Migrant Child Care Center Wins Reprieve in Encinitas

In from the rain they came--scores of agricultural workers with children, many clad in frilly dresses despite the foul weather.

Once inside the auditorium, they sat and waited, their faces grave, as if prepared for doom. On this night, trustees of the Encinitas Union School District would either renew the district’s contract to run the deficit-plagued Migrant Child Care Center or pull out, leaving the state-funded program in jeopardy.

Passions on both sides of the issues were intense. Trustees said they were reluctant to pump as much as $16,000 of district money into a state-funded day care program that serves children in North County.

Parents and center staff countered that much of the deficit was caused by salary obligations beyond their control and noted that the program saves the district money by preparing students for grade school, eliminating their need for remedial tutoring.

After an emotional public hearing Thursday night, the board majority struck a compromise: Members voted 3-2 to give the center until July, 1987, to find another agency to serve as its guardian. Until then, the district will use its funds to help keep the program afloat.

The board’s vote sparked thunderous applause from the audience of about 100, which appeared to contain nothing but center supporters, and joyful words from the program’s staff.

“We’re elated and, I’ll tell you, we’re a little surprised,” said Susan Gjerset, center director. “They’ve given us a ray of hope for the future. And we’re determined to stay in the black and convince the district that this is a viable program.”

The board’s action came over the protests of trustees Mary Jo Nortman and Van Riley, both of whom object to the use of district educational funds for a program providing child care and preschooling for about 75 children, 50% of whom live in Encinitas.

“I look at the possibility of spending $64,000 over the next three years, possibly more, and I really question whether or not we, representing the entire Encinitas School District, can use . . . education funds for a child care service,” Riley said.

Nortman suggested that North County growers, whose employees benefit from the center, might band together and take over its operation. She said that even if the district approves a financial infusion for the center this year, “it’s only a Band-Aid approach” to the deficit problem.

Board President Tony Brandenburg, apparently swayed both by the aggressive fund-raising efforts of center parents and staff and the impressive turnout at the meeting, said that the district should apply that Band-Aid. He proposed that the district declare its intent to terminate its link with the center effective July, 1987, giving the center “a last opportunity” and time to line up a new operator.

Trustees Sandra Schultz and Bill Carli supported Brandenburg’s motion. But they urged parents and center staff to continue their efforts to whittle away at the deficit.

“The ball’s in your court to see that we don’t have to spend general fund money on this,” Carli told the audience after the vote.

Gjerset said the center’s staff and supporters plan to do just that, and noted she hopes to have the program on an even financial keel by next year in order to persuade the district to continue its sponsorship.

Gjerset said the center plans to form a steering committee to look at alternative financing arrangements and mount a fund-raising effort to battle the deficit. Already, parents have raised $5,000, and pledges from area flower growers total $2,000.

The center’s boosters also intend to pressure the area’s state representatives to help win funding increases in Sacramento. And the center’s 21-member staff will attempt to form their own bargaining unit of the California School Employees Assn. (CSEA) within the Encinitas district.

Much of the deficit has been caused by salary increases mandated by CSEA, which have outstripped annual cost-of-living adjustments provided the center by the state.

“That way, we can set our own salaries,” Gjerset said. “So if the state approves a 2% increase, we can approve something similar instead of taking the 6% or 7% increase the district says we have to take.”

The staff has also agreed to take minor cuts in their work hours to help reduce the deficit. The planned reductions will save about $6,000 annually, Gjerset said.

The center, which is adjacent to Capri Elementary School, opened in 1976 at the urging of San Dieguito flower growers, who saw a need for the service among their employees. It serves children ages two months to five years whose families earn at least half of their annual income from agriculture.