‘The thought of abruptly saying goodbye again terrifies me’: Families and teachers affected by daycare closures speak out

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Families and teachers are speaking out about the effects of the Salt Lake County Council’s decision to shut down four county-funded daycare centers.

In a meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 28, the county council voted to close four county-funded daycare centers across the Salt Lake Valley. Within two months all four will be shut down.

“I literally just felt so sick listening to all this,” Stephanie Gardner, a mom who has two children that attend a daycare at the Kearns Rec Center, said. “It just is so wrong.”

“This is not a statutory duty of the county to provide daycare,” County Councilwoman Aimee Winder Newton of district 3 said during Tuesday’s hearing. “We have things already in place. We heard about the DWS [Department of Workforce Services] childcare subsidy, which is a very generous subsidy for families. It’s not our job to provide this service.”

Regarding the decision, Senator Luz Escamilla said, “”I am shocked and deeply disappointed by the Salt Lake County Council’s recommendation to close its licensed childcare centers in Kearns, Magna, Millcreek, and the Northwest Activity Center on Salt Lake City’s west side.”

Affordability

“The daycares around are not affordable,” Gardner added. “These companies are not giving affordable care.”

Gardner, an employee of the Utah Air National Guard, is also currently furloughed due to the recent federal government shutdown, adding a further burden on her family.

Stefanie Wright, a different mom whose children’s daycare in Millcreek will be shutdown following Tuesday’s vote, spoke with ABC4.com about the closure will affect her kids.

“The [county center] care is high quality and it’s affordable,” Wright said. “Anywhere else… is going to more than double the amount that we have to pay for childcare.”

Wright says the vote was a “big blow” financially, and that her family now faces difficulty finding a new facility within two months.

Gardner says she will likely have to pay over $1,000 more per month by sending her kids to other daycares. “I don’t feel like they actually had all the facts.”

In her statement, Senator Escamilla also addressed the issue of affordability:

‘At the very moment families are losing SNAP benefits and working longer hours just to feed their children, the council’s recommendation to eliminate childcare options creates even greater barriers for working families trying simply to survive. Suggesting families “find another provider” ignores the reality that nearby nonprofit centers are already at capacity, with months-long waitlists. These centers offered more than supervision; they provided quality, affordable care with wraparound supports like transportation and meal services. Expecting parents to find comparable care within a month is not just unrealistic, it’s mean. 

“I have already heard from many constituents who depend on these services. Access to high-quality quality affordable childcare has been one of my top legislative priorities for years, and I am actively working to find creative solutions to help these families.”

Teachers and employees

ABC4.com spoke with one teacher who works at the facility in the Kearns Rec Center who says she won’t be let go but will have to move to a position outside of her field.

“Now I’m not going to have anything to do with [teaching] unless I seek employment at other places,” the teacher, who wished to remain anonymous, said.

Due to the center being closed, teachers will likely have to be repurposed to work in other positions.

The teacher who spoke with ABC4.com says she has a degree in early childhood education and has taught at the Kearns Rec Center for three years. Recently she even furthered her career by obtaining a teaching certification.

“Personally, I don’t see myself continuing to teach… because the thought of abruptly saying goodbye again terrifies me,” the teacher said.

Timing

“Now that the school year is under way… everywhere has a waitlist,” she added. “It’s just not enough time.”

Parents were alerted of the closures on Tuesday, Oct. 28, just before 5 p.m. “We had no idea that it was on the table at all,” Wright told ABC4.com.

“Our immediate priority is to support you in finding alternative, high-quality childcare,” the email read. Childcarecenter.us lists available childcare centers in the Salt Lake area.

In a post to social media, Winder Newton said the cuts came after an extensive report showed an “exorbitant subsidy” was being given by the county.

“This is not the role of county government,” Winder Newton said. “Government cannot and should not be all things to all people. This is not equitable public funding. We don’t know if these families were low income as there were no low-income requirements.”

Exploring options

Winder Newton went on to say that the state already has a childcare subsidy for low- and middle-income families. “We are not best suited to be daycare providers.”

Gardner says daycare supplement programs don’t accept all daycares.

The council voted 5-4 to shut down the centers, voting for the $3 million cut strictly on party lines. Parents have two months to place their children in different childcare centers.

“Cuts like this aren’t easy, but I believe the county needs to focus resources on our most important role – public safety and the criminal justice system. We can’t keep taxing people for things that only a handful of people benefit from and that is not part of our statutory duty,” Winder Newton concluded.