麻豆精品

Join our zero2eight Substack community for more discussion about the latest news in early care and education.

Correction appended March 26

Midway between Nashville and Atlanta, the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee, makes original use of a resource that other communities possess in abundance but fail to capitalize on: empty classrooms in public schools. 

Arising two decades ago from one principal’s creative approach, micro-centers are child care centers for the children of school teachers and other staff. The city鈥檚 12 micro-centers serve children 6 weeks old through 4 years old, when they can go to pre-kindergarten.

鈥淚t’s almost like a deconstructed child care center,鈥� says Louise Stoney of , a nonprofit focused on improving child care business models. Stoney says she鈥檚 working with several states that are trying to replicate the model.

Origin Story

In the early 2000s, school principal Jill Levine noticed that she was losing a lot of her bright young teachers when they had children. So she converted an empty classroom into an informal child care space.

To make sure the center was not an insurance risk, Levine reached out to the late Phil Acord of , a social services organization with roots in the 19th century. Acord worked with Tennessee鈥檚 Department of Human Services, which handles licensing. The agency agreed to license these sites not as child care centers but as family child care 鈥渉omes,鈥� which has a specific legal definition. Acord also found an insurance agent to add an inexpensive rider to the schools鈥� existing policies.

Katie Harbison, who now runs the initiative for Chambliss, says, 鈥淲e’re lucky that we’re one of the states that doesn’t have regulations that require that license to only be in a place where a person lives.鈥� Her latest campaign involves expanding beyond schools into businesses, hospitals and other workplaces, a step that requires negotiating with state fire marshals about these nontraditional facilities.

鈥淟icensing is rigid and unforgiving,鈥� says Stoney. 鈥淪tates tend to license centers with a huge telephone book of standards, while licensing homes with this really thin folder of nothing. And micro-centers sit in between.鈥�

Cost Savings and More

Even before the pandemic, . Micro-centers alleviate some of the biggest pain points. The host school gives them the space for free and covers utilities, maintenance and janitorial services. Chambliss pays for teachers, technology, supplies and insurance.

鈥淭heir wages are better and their parent fees are lower,鈥� explains Stoney, 鈥渂ecause they’re not padded by any facilities costs or overhead cost.鈥�

The benefits of micro-centers go beyond the financial efficiencies, Harbison explains: 鈥淧arents working in the schools can drop off their children and pay visits during lunch breaks or for nursing. And the arrangement also fosters community within the school, with staff often helping each other with pickup duties.鈥� And since the parents are school employees, their work schedules naturally harmonize with those of their child care providers.

Best of all, micro-centers are a vital employment benefit, supporting the school system鈥檚 recruitment and retention goals.

A Nationwide Opportunity

Aaron Lowenberg and Elliot Haspel the dynamics around the country that make the present moment ripe for solutions such as micro-centers, writing: 

鈥淲ith districts looking to save costs by closing underutilized elementary school buildings yet still incurring the costs of maintaining those facilities, child care providers struggling to afford rising commercial rents, and families in dire need of more child care options, it makes sense to consider allowing child care providers to make use of these existing school buildings.鈥�

Lowenberg and Haspel focus on Missoula, Montana, where population growth has stalled. In Chattanooga, Harbison notes, the situation is somewhat different, as the population is swelling, which leads to a shrinking pool of empty classrooms and long waitlists for infant and toddler spots.

鈥淧eople are moving here for quality of life and affordability,鈥� she says. 鈥淪ome are remote workers.鈥� When building a new school, the district tries to reserve one classroom for child care, but, increasingly, enrollment outpaces expectations. 鈥淲e sometimes have to leave a school and go to another one,鈥� she says.

Further, after weathering the pandemic with their workforce largely intact, Chambliss is now grappling with a low local unemployment rate, which means more job openings with less responsibility and higher pay.

The Network Behind Micro-Centers

Beyond economic and population fluctuations, it鈥檚 that fosters a project like micro-centers. 鈥淐hattanooga is known for public-private partnerships,鈥� says Harbison. 鈥淕overnment, philanthropists and companies work together. We’ve had some pretty major projects through blending of public and private dollars, including redoing the waterfront and building a public aquarium.鈥� 

In particular, Harbison singles out , a backbone organization for the community focused on literacy and career pathways, as well as an early childhood effort called that brings together 30 organizations. Chattanooga 2.0鈥檚 Smart City Venture Fund, a private social venture capital fund, helps direct local investments. She also credits the , the and .

Seeking viable workarounds. Remaining flexible. And enlisting collaborators. Every city is different, but these are the principles that generate and sustain solutions.

Correction: An earlier version of this story mischaracterized the process for opening a child care center in a Tennessee school. Principal Jill Levine had permission to open a center at her school, building on a process used by another school.

Did you use this article in your work?

We鈥檇 love to hear how 麻豆精品鈥檚 reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers.