Bids for at-school child care pay off for parents

The Port Washington-Saukville School District wasn’t required to go through a competitive bidding process to find a child care provider to run its before and after-school programs next school year, but it did in the hope it would result in a better program that was less expensive for parents.

“It worked out as we thought it might,” Director of Business Services and Human Resources Mel Nettesheim told the School Board last week. “Prices will be lower next year.”

The district received three proposals and decided to enter into a three-year contract with its current provider, the Kettle Moraine YMCA, which beginning with the 2026-27 school year will cut fees for parents and offer discounts for those whose children are enrolled in the program for multiple days a week.

The savings for parents whose children are enrolled in both the before and after-school child care programs five days a week will be $900 a year.

“It (requesting proposals) was just the right thing to do to make sure we were getting the best prices, the best options for our families,” Nettesheim said, noting that parents, not the district, pay for child care offered for kindergarten through fourth-grade students at the district’s three elementary schools.

The district also received proposals from child care providers Right-At-School and Champions. The YMCA offered what administrators said was the best proposal.

In addition to reducing its prices, the YMCA has committed to adding a second staff person at each of the child care school sites. Currently there is one staff person at each site, which has effectively limited the number of students enrolled in the program and in some cases created a waiting list, Supt. Michael McMahon said.

“I’m confident we will have the staff we need at a more efficient cost,” Nettesheim said.

This year there are a total of 119 students in the child-care program — 65 before school and 54 after school, with the majority enrolled five days a week.

The changes come as at-school child care becomes an increasingly valuable service for working families who struggle with child-care costs and transportation logistics. It will become that much more important in the Port Washington-Saukville School District next school year when bus transportation from schools to off-site child-care facilities is ended.

Under the new contract with the YMCA, the district will be able to offer a child-care program that is considerably less expensive than those offered by the Grafton and Cedarburg school districts. That is because the Port-Saukville School District does not charge the YMCA rental fees to use its facilities, McMahon said.

“Since we see this partnership as important for wrap-around care for families, our contract with Kettle Moraine YMCA does not include rental fees,” he said. “Rather, we requested those savings be passed on to families.”

The YMCA currently charges a flat daily fee of $13.50 per child for before-school care and $15.50 for after-school care. Beginning next school year, the before-school fee will be $13 a day for one or two days a week, drop to $12 a day for three or four days a week and fall to $11 a day for children who attend five days a week.

The after-school prices will follow the same pattern, ranging from $15 to $13 a day depending on how many days a child attends.

Care will also be available on days classes aren’t in session, including on inclement weather days.

In addition, the YMCA is offering a 10% discount for families with siblings enrolled in the program and a 20% discount for children of district employees.

Before-school child care will begin at 6 a.m. and after-school care will run until 6 p.m., which means children can be supervised at their schools for 12 hours a day.

The School District and YMCA are also discussing a future child-care program for 4-year-old kindergarten students and at-school activities for middle school students.

“This would have made my life a lot easier when my kids were young,” School Board member Elisa Pionek said.

Board member Kierstin Cira said that providing reliable and affordable before and after-school child care has become an important responsibility of public school districts.

“This is about 20 years later than was necessary in the district, so I’m super excited that we are finally doing it,” she said. “This is a necessary part of public schooling, especially nowadays. It’s very much needed.”