Fair care: Private day-care operations say public Safekey program has competitive edge

Thursday, June 6, 2002 | 11:07 a.m.

Local recreation departments started after-school Safekey programs in 1985 to keep kids off the streets between the end of the school day and when parents got off work.

But what started as a way to give latchkey kids something to do after school has expanded into multiple programs that include week-long summer camps and day-long activities, prompting the private child-care industry to cry foul against a state legislative committee on private-public competition.

The recreation programs use school multipurpose rooms and playgrounds, giving them little to no overhead and allowing them to charge less than half the cost of private day care.

"I'd like to have their deal -- free rent, no utilities, no taxes, no insurance costs," Lit'l Scholar owner Gary Vause said. "With that I could offer some really great prices for child care and after-school programs, too.

"That's an unfair advantage. No matter how you slice it, it is an unfair advantage."

Vause and his colleagues also complain that they must operate under rules the public programs can ignore, and they want the next Legislature to even the playing field.

But county officials say the kids who come to their programs wouldn't go to private child care anyway. They would just stay home alone or be out, getting into trouble.

Safekey was never meant to provide baby-sitting, but to offer after-school recreation, Doug Bradford, manager of Resource Development for the county, said. It was designed specifically for older kids who would refuse to go to traditional day care, he said.

"Each of our recreational facilities offer a myriad of activities for kids to get involved with," Bradford said. "We are trying to keep them off the street and hopefully keep them out of trouble."

Safekey administrator Mary Wolfe estimates 8,000 students participate in Safekey through the county, Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson and Boulder City recreation departments.

Many of the parents who use Safekey could never afford private day care, Wolfe said. Safekey costs $28 a week for after-school care and $13 per week for before-school care. About 200 students in the county program are on scholarships. Vause charges $47.50 per week at Lit'l Scholar.

No doubt the county owes its lower rates to its use of school facilities, but county intergovernmental relations manager Dan Musgrove defends that as a good use of taxpayer resources, which support both schools and recreation.

"We get multiple use of facilities that would otherwise sit unused," he said.

Cost aside, Vause and Carol Hall, owner of Creative Kids Learning Center, say the fact that the public programs are not licensed as day-care centers not only is unfair, but also raises questions about the quality of the care.

"Something's going to happen in one of these facilities to cause closer scrutiny," Vause said. The regulations, he said, are for the children's safety.

"If an 8-year-old is in our care, why is his health and safety any different than if he was anywhere else, be it a public school, a recreation department or the Boys and Girls Club?"

Even though they don't need the licensing because they are considered recreation, the public programs follow many of the same rules as private day cares, Wolfe said.

Employees go through extensive background checks and training programs, and the programs follow the same child-to-adult ratios.

The private providers and county representatives have been ordered to work out their differences by the legislative committee, which will meet again on June 26.

Vause would like the committee to look at the facility and tax issues that he says are unfair. Hall just wants the recreation departments to have to get child-care licenses for their programs.

Vause said also he feared the recreation programs would continue to expand into full-time day care for all ages.

"It started out with caring for needy kids after school, then it became before school, then all summer and now it is all year long with track break programs," he said. "A large portion of their kids are first and second graders. I used to get those kids in the summer." County representatives say such measures aren't necessary, because they don't pose any competition for the private industry. They serve only children ages 6 to 12, and private care centers handle mostly preschool children.

"I really think that they have a different niche," Musgrove said. "I think that if we closed tomorrow, I don't think their business would increase. I think there would be a lot of kids who wouldn't have a place to go."

The chairman of the committee, Sen. Mike Schneider, said he doesn't expect to write any legislation.

"I'm not anxious to do something to put kids out on the street, because I know the private sector can't ramp it up and take care of all those kids if we say the cities can't do things like Safekey," Schneider said.