COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — In April, Harrison School District 2 informed families that the district’s free before and afterschool childcare program would end in May due to a lack of funding.
For many families, including single-parent households, the loss of this resource has created significant hardship. One such parent, Shaquan, described the program as essential to her family’s daily functioning.
Shaquan, a mother of five, had two children enrolled in the after-school program at Centennial Elementary. She relied on the care as a dependable, safe environment that allowed her to work while knowing her children were supervised in a familiar and trusted setting.
“Having five kids, doing everything alone, free childcare at the school was like gold. It’s not that I have to trust random people, it’s at a place they’re familiar with, a place I trust as a parent,” she explained.
The program’s termination is directly tied to the expiration of federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds, which were allocated during the COVID-19 pandemic to support education-related programs.
According to Superintendent Wendy Birhanzel, the district had been transparent about the temporary nature of this funding.
“We knew it could only last as long as our ESSER money was there,” stated Birhanzel.
Since August 2021, the City of Colorado Springs’ Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department had partnered with the district to deliver before and after school care at six sites.
However, with the loss of $1.6 million in annual funding, the district was unable to continue offering the program at no cost to families.
Parents expressed concern about the short notice they received. The district’s communication came in early April, leaving families less than two months to make alternate arrangements.
“Knowing…a month and a half before school ended was a little stressful. It’s already tough trying to balance working and kids at home,” said Shaquan.
Birhanzel acknowledged that nearly 1,000 students had participated in the program, each with varying schedules. The demand often exceeded capacity, with waitlists in place even when funding was available.
In the wake of the program’s end, the district has stated that it will continue to work with community partners to provide fee-based care. Birhanzel emphasized that services would be offered on a sliding scale to account for families’ financial constraints.
“Many of our families struggle to put food on the table or are working multiple jobs. We really advocated that the costs have to be reasonable for a working-class family to afford,” she said.
Still, for families like Shaquan’s, even scaled fees may be out of reach.
“The fees didn't seem to be too far out there. But for me, for my kids to be in the program, it's not realistic to go from a free program to... paying over $1,000 for it. It was like $360 a month per kid, which, once again, it's pretty reasonable, until you start adding multiple kids.” she shared.
Faced with this financial burden, Shaquan is now exploring other schooling options to consolidate drop-offs and potentially reduce childcare needs.
“I was looking into switching the schools that my kids go to because right now, my kids are at multiple schools… whether it’s within District 2 or not, that my kids can go to so I don’t have to worry about three different schools when pickups are all at the same time,” she said.
As the school year draws to a close, the future remains uncertain for many families impacted by the end of free childcare in Harrison School District 2.
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