OXNARD : Ocean View District Ends Free Day Care
Day care for elementary schoolchildren in Oxnard’s Ocean View School District will no longer be free, district officials said Wednesday.
Faced with a $45,000 deficit in its state-funded day-care program, the district will begin Tuesday charging parents of elementary schoolchildren $6.50 per school day and $9 per day on holidays and during the summer, Supt. Robert D. Allen said.
About 28 of the 70 children now enrolled in the program will be affected. The program will still be free for kindergartners and preschool children, he said.
Allen said that if the district receives additional state funds, “we’ll take another look and lower the fees as low as we can get them to keep the budget balanced. That’s the goal of the program, not to make money. We still won’t be making any money.”
Included in the decision is a stipulation that if someone were considering removing a child from the program because of financial reasons, the matter would be taken before the board.
Charging fees is necessary because of rising insurance rates and the increasing cost of renting the day-care space, Allen said.
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