On March 17, the Pagosa Springs Town Council decided how it wanted to distribute its budgeted $88,000 for early child care and education (ECE) funding.
Included in this funding is money “for [child care] centers, in-home day cares, and other programs/services in this realm,” states an agenda document on the matter.
Applications from the child care providers were turned in to the town by March 6 and, in total, seven organizations requested funding, totaling $91,434, the document states, which is more than what the town allocated in its budget for ECE.
The town’s criteria for awarding the funding asked the applicants to respond to several questions based on council approved wording and criteria for how it would consider funding.
The town prioritized the following criteria in evaluating the funding requests:
• Expansion or addition of new ECE slots.
• Organizations demonstrating sustainability in provision of ECE services, including recruitment and retention of staff.
• Retention of existing ECE slots.
• Support of organizations aiding families in the local workforce.
• Organizations or centers that have found other ways to be self-sufficient in their funding model.
• Organizations increasing accessibility of ECE to the lower-income and underserved populations of our community.
According to the agenda document, in-home day cares asked for a total of $9,000, with Teresa’s Lil Blessings asking for $5,000 and Tiff’s Lil Cubs Childcare asking for $4,000.
Early childhood centers asked the town for a total of $57,394, with Pagosa Springs Head Start asking for $17,394, Seeds of Learning asking for $20,000 and Wings Early Childhood Center asking for $20,000.
Other types of related services asked for a total of $25,040, with Pagosa Community Initiative asking for $20,000 and Aspire Medical Services and Education asking for $5,040.
ECE remains one of the council’s top community priorities, along with broadband expansion and support for the community’s senior population.
Town Clerk April Hessman passed out a spreadsheet and explained, “We will take the average of the amounts” chosen by each council member for each applicant “to come up with a total for each applicant.”
When council member Madeline Bergon noted that her rubric for coming up with her numbers was to deduct the same percentage, about 3 percent, from all the applicants’ requests to bring the total number down to the amount budgeted.
This was a “way to be equitable across the board,” Bergon said.
Lindner stated that he “evaluated it a little bit differently,” keeping the emphasis on creating new slots, weighing it to give the larger centers, which create more new slots, to get more of the funding.
Council member Leonard Martinez added, “I was impressed with all the applications,” which gave “me the sense that in order to do this well it’s gonna take a community.”
He stressed “the importance of the micro day cares in our community, choosing to fund “Tiff’s and Teresa’s at the full amounts,” adding, “congratulations to all the applicants.”
Mayor Shari Pierce also supported the smaller providers at the full amount asked.
Council member Gary Williams explained that he “took more money from Seeds” because it has other means of funding.
After all the final numbers were crunched, Lindner expressed some frustration about the process of how the council allocates the money year after year.
“Even though we have a rubric on how we do this, we all had our own subjective way that we came up with these amounts … I don’t like it. I never have,” he said.
He added, “It’s weird” and “it’s a problem that it’s subjective, and seems not very rigorous” instead of being objective.
When Pierce asked him if he had any ideas to fix it, he explained that he had brought the idea of an objective rubric in the past and “we are not following it.”
Martinez stated that he did not follow the rubric that closely because it was like “an apple, an orange, and a banana” comparing the different needs and business models of the different types of child care providers, “so the rubric wouldn’t have worked.”
Bergon added, “If we really want to come up with a good scoring rubric, we should bring in the people with boots on the ground to guide us so it’s fair.”
Lindner replied, “It’s challenging and I’ve brought it up every year, and it ends up being subjective every year.”
Martinez said, “I’d be the one frustrated if it was more mechanical,” with Lindner again stating that each council member was just making their own rubrics and rules.
When a motion was made to approve allocating $87,949.85 to the applicants, it was supported unanimously by the council.
The averaged-out numbers that each applicant will be receiving are as follows: Aspire Medical Services and Education will receive $4,180; Pagosa Springs Head Start will be awarded $17,245; the Pagosa Community Initiative will receive $19,650; Seeds of Learning will receive $18,831; Teresa’s Lil Blessings will get $4,762; Tiff’s Lil Cubs Childcare will receive $3,970; and Wings Early Childhood Center will get $19,310.
During public comment, Ben Fox, a representative from Wings, noted that “it’s clear there’s a lot of frustration” with the funding process, suggesting that the town “bring in the stakeholders” to reach common ground that works for everyone.
He added that there was room “for more intentional conversation,” and that the town should take a “leadership role” in making that happen.
He then thanked the council for the funding opportunity “for all these great organizations,” saying that the funding is important to all of them.
derek@pagosasun.com
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