Child Care Center Loss Feared : Fate of Program That Aids Children of Migrant Workers in Doubt

ENCINITAS â€”  It was nap time in the toddler room, and not even the heavy rain clattering on the rooftop could disturb the snoozing of the 10 tiny bundles curled on mats under fuzzy, flowered blankets.

As the children slept, teacher Emma Tellez moved about the room, decorating the walls with drawings of four-leaf clovers announcing the approach of St. Patrick’s Day. Building blocks and other toys lay ready for the children’s awakening. Nearby, four pint-size portable toilets stood in a row ready for one of the afternoon’s biggest events--toilet training.

It was, by all indications, just another routine day at the Migrant Child Care Center.

But despite the apparent serenity of the place, apprehension was gnawing at the staff of 21 who run the center, which provides day care and preschool education to children of North County agricultural workers. Because of a $30,000 budget deficit, much of which is due to salary obligations outside the center’s control, the future of the state-funded program--one of only a handful in Southern California--is in jeopardy.

Tonight the Encinitas Union School District’s Board of Trustees will decide whether to continue to oversee the center or pull out, ending a 10-year link between the district and the child care program. Although the district provides space at a nominal fee for the center, it does not provide funding. Should the board vote to pull out, the center’s directors would be forced to hunt for a new agency to serve as their overseer beginning in June.

“We’re all a little nervous about the prospects,� said Susan Gjerset, the center’s director. “The program is solid now and running so well. Our concern is that there’s no guarantee the state would approve a new agency to administer the center.�

The fate of the center, founded in 1976 at the urging of San Dieguito flower growers, has become a sensitive topic in the Encinitas district, which serves both children from the exclusive La Costa area and students whose parents pick the blooms that decorate their wealthy neighbors’ dinner tables.

Trustees say they believe in the child care program and have no desire to see it close. But the looming deficit, they say, will force the district to pump general education funds into the program, an expenditure some board members feel is inappropriate. Last year, the center had a budget deficit of $14,000.

“I feel very strongly about taking educational dollars and using them to provide a child care service,� Trustee Mary Jo Nortman said. “We’re not in the business of providing child care. And if we do provide it, we should provide it for everybody, not just this segment of the population.�

Board President Tony Brandenburg echoed Nortman’s concern, and added that he feels uncomfortable using district funds to support a program used by children from neighboring communities. Gjerset said 50% of the center’s 74 youngsters come from Encinitas; the rest live in Oceanside, Carlsbad, Vista and San Marcos.

“This is an unpleasant situation because it’s a good program and whether we do or don’t pull out we’re going to get flak,� Brandenburg said. “But the crux of the issue is, should we put district funds into a program that was never meant to be supported with district funds?�

Teachers at the center, which consists of a cluster of portable classrooms surrounding playground equipment, counter that the center saves the district money by preparing students for grade school and eliminating their need for remedial programs to overcome language barriers and other problems.

Nonetheless, center officials say they are willing to operate under another agency’s umbrella. But they are asking the district to continue its sponsorship for a year to give them time to line up a new arrangement.

To boost their case, parents and the center’s staff have mobilized to reduce the deficit. They have appealed to local growers and state legislators for help and have raised $5,000. They have received donations from Encinitas service clubs and have formed an “adopt-a-child� program linking children at the center with area residents.

Revenue from those efforts is expected to reduce the cost overrun to about $9,000 by June, said Bill Dean, a Leucadia resident coordinating the campaign to save the center.

Gjerset said the deficit was caused primarily by increases in teachers’ salaries. Although the program is state-funded, staffers are members of the Encinitas teachers’ union. Increases in their salaries have outstripped annual cost-of-living adjustments provided by the state, creating the budget overrun, Gjerset said. Staffers have explored the possibility of getting out of the union to relieve pressure on the center’s budget.

The center was the brainchild of a group of Encinitas flower growers, who saw a need for child care among their workers. Dave Pruitt, owner of Seacoast Greenhouses and an original supporter of the program, said it was “a gesture designed to make life a little easier for these families, who have a desperate time trying to make ends meet in this expensive residential area.�

“These are people on very low incomes who don’t have any of the typical benefits, like medical, that most of us have,� Pruitt said. “It would be a shame to see them lose this comfort. It would be a shame to see the children lose out.�

The center’s $428,000 annual operating budget is provided by state Department of Education funds and parent fees. To qualify for the program, which has a waiting list of 70, a child’s parents must earn half their income from agricultural work.