Wonderschool works with governments and private companies to provide technology and services, including staffing management, to support early child care access.
Jason Moss is the head of new government initiatives for Wonderschool. He said they’ve already placed their first substitute in one of the early childhood care centers, and they’re returning to fill in more.
“Early child care providers can post open roles, temporary jobs that they need help from somebody who is already background-checked, screened, qualified, and trained to come in to support their childcare, and that process can be extremely cumbersome and time-intensive, and so our platform makes that possible,” he said.
Employees earn an hourly rate, paid by the provider, but they can earn bonus pay through Wonderschool if they continue as substitutes. Moss said at least three providers have already onboarded with them and that he estimates there are about 85 childcare sites, which include home-based and church care, that could use this service at no cost for two years.
Kate Groat is the director of corporate philanthropy at Live Oak Bank. She said the substitute system treats employees like professionals, who can make sure childcare centers don’t have to close when a teacher is sick or on vacation.
She recounted how Live Oak Bank came to fill this gap in service.
“I was on a call, I don't know, a year and a half ago, and the providers on the call said, ‘We are really existing right now on subs and floaters,’ because they have required student teacher ratios, and so when someone calls in sick, can't make it to work for whatever reason, and they can't make those ratios, people either turned away at the door, they have to close down classrooms more dramatically,” she said.
Groat said that they are solving one piece of a larger puzzle of the early childcare industry and that if the community wants to see change, larger systemic investments that increase these employees’ salaries should be made.
“It's the only industry where we ask people to sell a product for less than it costs. That doesn't happen anywhere else. We would never ask you to sell a widget for 50 cents when it took 75 to make it,” she said. “The student teacher ratios or requirements make it so they can't cut costs anymore, and we don't want them to, because we want those teachers there keeping our children safe and educated. So the business model that puts us in a bit of a pickle,” she said.
The grant’s life is limited, so Groat is hoping to find a way to keep it funded.
“Maybe after two years, we come up with a different funding mechanism, and [maybe] it's a third philanthropy, and two thirds to the business owner, or maybe it's a third with the state and a third with a business owner and a third philanthropy, I don't know, but we have two years to figure it out,” she said.
These possible payment models would be similar to the state’s Trishare pilot, where childcare costs are split equally between the employee, the employer, and the state. Jane Morrow, the executive director of New Hanover County Smart Start, said no business in New Hanover County has signed up, but she could help them do it.
Groat said Live Oak Bank typically funds about $2 million in grants per year, which have to be associated with a non-profit that a Live Oak employee is actively involved with. With its rolling grant cycle, it invests in organizations that support people in obtaining jobs, achieving sustainability in terms of wages and benefits, and achieving upward mobility.
In addition to the the Wonderschool Foundation, they’ve supported the initiatives of the Forward Fund, Lower Cape Fear Hospice, and Cape Fear Collective.
Resources
To apply or find out more about the New Hanover County early childhood substitute system, click here
