MD is looking into closed preschools charging tuition -- doesn't think it's right

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The people who are still paying preschool tuition are doing so to reserve their spots for next year.

Nope. I’m doing so because it’s part of our annual contract. We received reminder emails that tuition is due on the regular schedule. My kid is going to kindergarten next year, I don’t need a spot. I also don’t need to have my tuition bill sent to collections and ruining my credit, so there’s that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
No service, no tuition.

Online service, reduced tuition.

Previous threads with posters urging full payment were probably planted by preschool directors or staff. Same for all the threads urging people to get take-out.

+ 1. Look, if I’m going to donate thousands of dollars to charity during this crisis, it will be to the truly destitute and not some company that should have done business continuity planning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No service, no tuition.

Online service, reduced tuition.

Previous threads with posters urging full payment were probably planted by preschool directors or staff. Same for all the threads urging people to get take-out.

+ 1. Look, if I’m going to donate thousands of dollars to charity during this crisis, it will be to the truly destitute and not some company that should have done business continuity planning.

Not a center director or staff. This is such a disgusting attitude towards the people you trust with your child all day. We’re affected by the Marriott furloughs and we’re still paying partial tuition because we aren’t ghouls who don’t care if our child’s teachers can eat or pay rent. Have you never seen a budget for one of these places? The margins are thin. They’re not taking your money and rolling around in it Scrooge mcduck style.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No service, no tuition.

Online service, reduced tuition.

Previous threads with posters urging full payment were probably planted by preschool directors or staff. Same for all the threads urging people to get take-out.

+ 1. Look, if I’m going to donate thousands of dollars to charity during this crisis, it will be to the truly destitute and not some company that should have done business continuity planning.

I hate to tell you, but a lot of the centers are borderline destitute. I don't think any of them have more than a couple months worth of expenses as a buffer. The teachers are paid very low wages, even at the best centers. And it's not some evil plan to steal your tuition money. It's childcare regulations and the cost of rent in our region. a 1:3 adult to child ratio means three families are supporting one teacher and probably the equivalent of one admin salary (think cleaning, cooking, center director, rent, utilities, supplies).

[Anonymous]

I’m a preschool teacher who gets paid $20/ hour, which is actually quite a lot for a preschool teacher. I teach 9:30-1:30 and get paid for 4 hour days even though I arrive at 8:45 and leave around 2pm or later because of set up/clean up. I get no break during class hours besides a 2 minute trip to the bathroom if I can get someone else to cover my classroom so we are still in ratio. I don’t get paid for planning time or staff meetings. I spend a lot of time each week planning and setting up the classroom, prepping materials, searching the library for books to read to your kids, no extra pay. I don’t get health insurance or pension or any benefit besides 5 sick days a year. My only benefit is flexibility so I’m out when my own children are out on snow days, summer, and of course now when we are out for the virus. I’ve been making videos and doing zoom calls with my class so I have been working a little while we have been out.

I have a dh with a good salary and we are going to be okay during this time, but many of my fellow teachers are struggling and have spouses losing jobs. So the pay through the end of the year is vital to them. If they can’t get paid from the school, they will find another job, and the school will have to find new people to train and that will be hard too.

I get that you don’t want to pay for what you aren’t using, but look at the big picture. If you’re in a job making $80k+ a year, please understand that $15-20/hour is pitiful for someone who is caring and educating your children, who does it because they believe in the importance of early childhood education. Yes we chose this job, but we didn’t choose this circumstance. I feel so bad for everyone in food, entertainment, etc who are losing their jobs, I’m trying to support our local restaurants as much as possible even though we don’t typically eat out a lot.

I’m saying all this to say—it’s about supporting the people in your lives. Think about that before pulling your tuition.

[Anonymous]

These are planted by directors of schools. No service no pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh boo hoo. I'm a parent at a for-profit center and this is very simple. Parents get together, collect money (we're using paypal) and distribute it to teachers. Not sure what the problem is here.

How is a Paypal collection covering the employer's part of the teacher's health insurance premiums, their social security and medicare contributions, etc?

It's a donation of cash directly to the teachers who have been laid off and are collecting unemployment.

I'm not sure what you think the alternative is. If you think you can get even half of families to keep paying full tuition every month so you can keep paying all of these expenses, then you are living in a different world than the one I am living in.

Same word, different moral code.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Same word, different moral code.

Make that "world"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh boo hoo. I'm a parent at a for-profit center and this is very simple. Parents get together, collect money (we're using paypal) and distribute it to teachers. Not sure what the problem is here.

How is a Paypal collection covering the employer's part of the teacher's health insurance premiums, their social security and medicare contributions, etc?

+1
Im an earlier poster that was questioning this and that’s exactly what I mean. These privileged parents thinking they are doing some amazing charity are absolutely not saving the teachers in the way that they think they are. Likening it to a holiday gift? As opposed to salary? What hubris.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These are planted by directors of schools. No service no pay.

Which Bond villain are you quoting there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a preschool teacher who gets paid $20/ hour, which is actually quite a lot for a preschool teacher. I teach 9:30-1:30 and get paid for 4 hour days even though I arrive at 8:45 and leave around 2pm or later because of set up/clean up. I get no break during class hours besides a 2 minute trip to the bathroom if I can get someone else to cover my classroom so we are still in ratio. I don’t get paid for planning time or staff meetings. I spend a lot of time each week planning and setting up the classroom, prepping materials, searching the library for books to read to your kids, no extra pay. I don’t get health insurance or pension or any benefit besides 5 sick days a year. My only benefit is flexibility so I’m out when my own children are out on snow days, summer, and of course now when we are out for the virus. I’ve been making videos and doing zoom calls with my class so I have been working a little while we have been out.

I have a dh with a good salary and we are going to be okay during this time, but many of my fellow teachers are struggling and have spouses losing jobs. So the pay through the end of the year is vital to them. If they can’t get paid from the school, they will find another job, and the school will have to find new people to train and that will be hard too.

I get that you don’t want to pay for what you aren’t using, but look at the big picture. If you’re in a job making $80k+ a year, please understand that $15-20/hour is pitiful for someone who is caring and educating your children, who does it because they believe in the importance of early childhood education. Yes we chose this job, but we didn’t choose this circumstance. I feel so bad for everyone in food, entertainment, etc who are losing their jobs, I’m trying to support our local restaurants as much as possible even though we don’t typically eat out a lot.

I’m saying all this to say—it’s about supporting the people in your lives. Think about that before pulling your tuition.

This is all well and good, but you need to realize how much of an expense tuition is for families. It's a second mortgage.

You cite someone making $80,000/year. If they have even one child in preschool, paying $1700/month (typical for this area, as you know), that's a full 25% of their PRE-TAX income. Add, say, rent on top of that at $2,000/month and you're at nearly 50% of pre-tax income.

It's a nice concept, theoretically, to support people in your lives, but many of us simply can't afford to do that if we're not receiving childcare in return.

[Anonymous]

Those people are still better off than those teachers making 12-20k a year depending on their hours. And then they get ZERO because you all pull your tuition. Then they won’t be teaching next year.

Our half day preschool May be going out of business. It’s a gem. It’s really sad.

[Anonymous]

We need universal childcare as a benefit for all working families. People can opt out and go private, but it would be there for those who need and want it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We need universal childcare as a benefit for all working families. People can opt out and go private, but it would be there for those who need and want it.

I have a feeling people without kids under 5 would not appreciate the massive tax hike it would take to make this happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We need universal childcare as a benefit for all working families. People can opt out and go private, but it would be there for those who need and want it.

I have a feeling people without kids under 5 would not appreciate the massive tax hike it would take to make this happen.

I have kids under 5 and would not appreciate the tax that would be needed.