www.ChildCareExchange.com FORPROFITCHILDCARE 73 JANUARY/FEBRUARY2014EXCHANGE

Child Care is hot, hot, hot! At least that is the impression one would get from following the national news, where stories like these keep popping up . . .

n Business leaders gather in Atlanta for a Summit on Early Childhood Investment.

n U.S. Chamber of Commerce pushing preschool initiatives in 48 states.

n President Obama proposes historic investment in early childhood services.

So, yes, there is a growing coalition building support for major increases in public support for early childhood services. But so far this is all talk . . . with little impact on services on the ground.

In fact, with the impact of the economic slow down, sequestration, and the federal government shut down, child care in the United States has undergone a sustained period of ‘no growth’ and even shrinkage in sectors heavily dependent on public subsidies.

Four Years of No Growth

For the 50 largest child care organiza­tions in North America (see table on page 75), this indeed has been a period where expansion is a distant memory.

A few of the Top 50 organizations — KinderCare Learning Centers, Bright Horizons Family Solutions, Childcare Network, and Children of America — have had recent growth spurts. How­ever, taken as whole, the total licensed capacity of the 50 largest for profit child care organizations in North America decreased from just under 704,000 in 2010 to just over 692,000 as we start 2014. This represents a decrease in

Slow Growth Continues for Large For Profit Organizations

Twenty-Seventh Annual Trend Report on For Profit Child CarebyRogerNeugebauer,DebraHartzell,andMaryBrown

capacity of just under 2%. A similar decline applies if we look only at the ten largest for profit companies, where the decrease in capacity exceeded 2% (see bar graph below).

Despite the years of flat performance (capacity­wise), the CEOs of the 50 largest organizations are bullish about the future. Again taken as a whole, the Top 50 organizations plan to expand by

Trends in Capacity of Top 50 For Pro�t Organizations

800,000

750,000

700,000

650,000

600,000

550,000

500,000

20102011

20122013

20142015

Combined Licensed Capacity for Top 50 Organizations

Combined Licensed Capacity for Top 10 Organizations

Copyright © Exchange Press, Inc.Reprinted with permission from Exchange magazine.

All rights reserved. Visit us at www.ChildCareExchange.comor call (800) 221-2864.

74 FORPROFITCHILDCARE www.ChildCareExchange.com EXCHANGEJANUARY/FEBRUARY2014

• 52% indicated “a requirement that parents be given the option of sending their child to either public school­based or community­based Pre­K programs.”

• 41% favored “the ability for both schools and child care programs to apply independently for grants from the state.”

What Lies Ahead

As indicated above, CEOs of North America’s 50 largest child care organiza­tions are expecting a return to expan­sion. They credit a slowly improving economy and growing recognition among parents of the value of high­ quality child care services for their optimism.

On the other hand, they are nervously following the course of Obama’s pre­school legislation to see if it is passed, and if passed, what the guidelines will be to support a mixed delivery system.

— n —

Nearly 4,000 early childhood profession­als participated in this survey, including significant representation from commu­nity child centers, Head Start agencies, family child care, and public school Pre­K from all 50 states. Findings indicate a widespread interest among providers in ensuring that existing centers in the community have an opportunity to participate in the this new funding opportunity. Here is a sampling of the preliminary findings:

n When asked where new funds “should be applied to ensure new Pre­K and Head Start programs are high quality,” the two highest areas were . . .

• Professional development for directors, teachers, and providers.

• Increasing existing teacher and provider salaries.

n The majority of respondents (59%) reported that they were currently part­nering informally with public schools, yet half of respondents reported that the biggest barrier to partnering with schools is “unwillingness of public schools to partner with community­based programs.”

n When asked what factors would ensure a mixed delivery system and result in high quality and parent choice . . .

nearly 3% in 2014, which would make up for four years of decline (see page 73).

Conditional Support for Preschool for All

While increases in federal support for early childhood services are long over­due, leaders in the for profit community are reluctant to give a whole ­hearted endorsement of President Obama’s preschool initiative. The big concern cen­ters around the requirement that federal funds be distributed through public school systems. It is feared that if the public schools were to retain these funds to operate Pre­K programs in public schools, that would limit the access of community centers to the robust market of three, four, and five year olds. Programs would be forced to subsist serving infants and toddlers — two markets where operating costs are extremely high.

It is important to note that these concerns are shared widely by all sectors of the early childhood provider community. Exchange magazine and the Early Care and Education Consortium (representing leading providers in the non profit and for profit communities) recently conduct­ed a survey on the new Obama legisla­tion, which reflected widespread concern about implementation of the new program.

Largest National Child Care Franchising OrganizationsOrganization Headquarters CEO Centers CapacityGoddard Schools * King of Prussia, Pennsylvania Joe Schumacher 382 55,826Primrose Schools Acworth, Georgia Jo Kirchner 273 49,632Kids R Kids * Duluth, Georgia Patrick D. Vinson 156 31,200The Learning Experience Boca Raton, Florida Richard Weissman 125 22,443Kiddie Academy Abingdon, Maryland Gregory Helwig 126 18,263Discovery Point Duluth, Georgia Cliff Clark 51 11,220Children’s Lighthouse * Fort Worth, Texas Patrick Brown (George Brown, Deceased) 34 8,500Creative World Schools Bonita Springs, Florida Marrianne Whitehouse 22 3,955Rainbow Stations Glen Allen, Virginia Gail Johnson 11 3,478Legacy Academy * Sugar Hill, Georgia Frank and Melissa Turner 11 2,750Appletree Christian Learning Centers Grand Ripids, Michigan Bridgett Tubbs-Carlon 12 2,016Kidspark * San Jose, California Debra Milner 14 798Based solely on information supplied by the organizations. *Information from January 2013.

www.ChildCareExchange.com FORPROFITCHILDCARE 75 JANUARY/FEBRUARY2014EXCHANGE

The Exchange Top 50North America’s Largest For Profit Child Care Organizations

Organization Headquarters CEOorCOO Centers CapacityKinderCare Learning Centers Portland, Oregon Tom Wyatt 1,500 250,000Bright Horizons Family Solutions Watertown, Massachusetts David Lissy 885 100,000Learning Care Group Novi, Michigan Barbara Beck 944 93,504Childcare Network Columbus, Georgia Scott Cotter 201 30,288Nobel Learning Communities, Inc. West Chester, Pennsylvania George Bernstein 187 25,000Phoenix Children’s Academy Scottsdale, Arizona Douglas MacKay 136 22,440Children of America Delray Beach, Florida Thad Pryor 75 16,350The Sunshine House Greenwood, Georgia Dale Vervaet 121 16,000Minnieland Academy Woodbridge, Virginia Charles Leopold 127 15,869New Horizon Academy Plymouth, Minnesota Chad Dunkley 87 13,153CCLC Portland, Oregon Tom Wyatt 90 12,068Brightside Academy Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Mark Kehoe 65 10,956Rainbow Child Care Centers Troy, Michigan Patrick Fenton 74 8,466Crème de la Crème Greenwood Village, Colorado Bruce Karpas 24 7,000Sunrise Preschools Tempe, Arizona Robert Orsi 25 5,488Hildebrandt Learning Centers LLC Dallas, Pennsylvania William J. Grant 43 4,847Pinecrest Schools Sherman Oaks, California Jerri Dye Lynch 8 4,600Action Day Nurseries San Jose, California Carole J. Frietas 20 4,450Country Home Learning Center San Antonio, Texas Sharon Ford 10 4,180Xplor Arlington, Texas Karen Stokes 16 4,016Acelero * New York, New York Aaron Liberman 29 4,000Youthland Academy Cincinnati, Ohio Amanda Bottleson 22 3,520Celebree Learning Centers Forest Hill, Maryland Richard Huffman 30 3,439The Malvern School Glen Mills, Pennsylvania Joe Scandone, Kristen Waterfield 22 3,124Rogy’s Learning Center Peoria, Illinios Wendy Pettett, Dawn Meyer, Richard Rogy 20 3,075Stepping Stone School Austin, Texas Rhonda Paver 18 2,814Edleun * Calgary, Alberta, Canada Mary Ann Curran 20 2,802StarChild Academy Apopka, Florida Pete Zimmermann 6 2,552Next Generation Children’s Centers Franklin, Massachusetts Donna Kelleher 10 2,354Doodle Bugs! Buffalo, New York Anthony Insinna 13 2,263The Gardner School Brentwood, Tennesee Scott Thompson 11 2,135The Children’s Workshop Cumberland, Rhode Island David MacDonald 19 1,944Little Sprouts LLC Lawrence, Massachusetts Mark Anderegg 17 1,930Valley Child Care and Learning Centers Phoenix, Arizona James Emch, Mike Emch 9 1,863Creative Playrooms Solon, Ohio Joan Wenk 7 1,789Kids Country Snohomish, Washington Lynnda Langston 11 1,786Bobbie Noonan’s Child Care Frankfort, Illinois Judith Nevell 13 1,700Creative Kids Learning Centers Las Vegas, Nevada Carol Levins 8 1,680Kid Kare Fresno, California Jim Fisher 11 1,663Center Management Associates* Tarrytown, New York Anthony Ross 12 1,659U-Gro Learning Centers * Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Greg Holsinger 12 1,506Children’s Discovery Center Maumee, Ohio Lois Rosenberry 8 1,505Never Grow Up Franklin, Tennesee Dwight Derringer 10 1,500EduKids Inc. Buffalo, New York Nancy Ware 13 1,425Jr. Academy Children’s Center Colorado Springs, Colorado Carol Holden 23 1,411O2B Kids Gainesville, Florida Andy Sherrad 6 1,370Creative Child Care * Richland Hills, Texas Alex Little 12 1,352The Compass Schools Glen Allen, Virginia Martin Brill 8 1,223Educational Playcare West Simsbury, Connectiect Jane Porterfield 5 1,190Gretchen’s House Ann Harbor, Michigan Heidi McFadden 10 1,060K.I.D.S. Daycares Westmount Quebec, Canada Evelyn Wajcer 13 1,024

Based soley on information supplied by the organizations. Data on capacity in chart above is the total licensed capacity for all centers as of January 1, 2014.*Information from January 2013