Two state bills would allow school district’s in the state to operate daycare programs for non-school-aged children, during school hours.
Evesham Township Council unanimously threw its support behind the ongoing efforts of the Evesham Township School District and residents to save the district’s Teddy Bear Academy daycare program.
Council used a portion of its meeting last week to adopt a resolution supporting state Senate bill No. 3330 and state Assembly bill No. 5066 — bills that would allow school districts in New Jersey to use their facilities to provide childcare services throughout the day to children younger than school age and regardless of where they live.
Under current state law, districts may only provide childcare services for school-aged students who live within a school’s sending district, and those services can only be provided outside of regular school hours.
In a ruling by Administrative Law Judge Solomon Metzger last year, which was later upheld by state Commissioner of Education Lamont Repollet, the Evesham Township School District’s Teddy Bear Academy was found to violate those rules.
Since opening in 2014, Teddy Bear Academy has provided child-care services to children as young as 6 weeks of age, regardless of their residence, throughout the year, before, during and after regular school hours.
Before last year’s legal rulings, officials with the Teddy Bear Academy program served more than 80 children, but those figures have dropped to about 55 children due to the uncertainty facing the program.
The program originally faced a potential shutdown around last fall until the state commissioner of education allowed the program to operate through the end of this school year to allow families to make other arrangements for their children.
As noted by Deputy Mayor Heather Cooper, although council does not have control over the legislative process at the state level, council’s official backing of the bills to allow for programs such as Teddy Bear Academy would help support residents in their fight.
“As a mom, I completely understand child care is so relevant for our success and our ability to be working parents if we are and have a safe place for our children in the schools,” Cooper said.
Councilwoman Patricia Hansen agreed with Cooper, and said she believed the ETSD’s Teddy Bear Academy fulfilled a need for affordable, high quality childcare services.
Hansen also noted the program earns revenue for a district that is facing large cuts in state aid scheduled in the next several years.
As outlined once again at the district’s last’ BOE meeting, the district expects somewhere around a total of $9 million in cuts to state aid by the 2024–2025 school year.
“When the future funding for our schools is being so dramatically decreased, the bills are a way for local governments to offset that deficit, alleviate tax increases and cover the decrease [of state aid],” Hansen said.
Mayor Jaclyn Veasy also spoke on supporting the legislative efforts,
“I’m happy we as a council can support this resolution and support the legislation up at the higher level…we’re happy to send that support,” Veasy said.
Also speaking at last week’s meeting was Leah Perlmutter, director of the ETSD’s child-care programs, who said she wanted to speak on behalf of her staff and the families they serve who couldn’t attend last week’s meeting.
Perlmutter thanked council for supporting the new legislation and said she loved to see the community coming together.
“The past five years with Teddy Bear Academy have been amazing,” Perlmutter said. “It is an excellent childcare center and I would hate to see that go away for our families and children in our community.”
Supporters of the bills are working to get the Assembly bill posted for a hearing and a vote before the state Assembly’s Women and Children’s Committee, which is chaired by Gabriela Mosquera.
Fourth Legislative District Assemblywoman Mosquera can be contacted at (856) 232–6700 or at aswmosquera@njleg.org.
