Summary
April 21, 2023
Shelley Hamilton, President
Ross Valley School District Board of Trustees
100 Shaw Drive
San Anselmo, CA 94960
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Marci Trahan, Superintendent
Ross Valley School District
100 Shaw Drive
San Anselmo, CA 94960
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Sent via email
Re: County of Marin Support for the Fairfax–San Anselmo Children’s Center
Dear President Hamilton and Superintendent Trahan,
On behalf of the Marin County Board of Supervisors, I write in strong support of the future use of the Deer Park School property – which through transfer, long term lease, or sale conditions – could enable the continued use of the site for critically needed childcare and early childhood education purposes in our community under continued operation of the Fairfax–San Anselmo Children’s Center.
High quality childcare and early learning is one of the most significant investments we can make in our children and communities. The Board of Supervisors has a history of investing local resources, in addition to seeking enhanced state funding, for preschool, day care, childcare slots and facilities, increased childcare reimbursement rates, and training and retention of childcare workers towards preserving and expanding capacity here in Marin.
As you know, the Fairfax–San Anselmo Children’s Center provides childcare, early childhood education, and before and after-school programming for school age children of families living and/or working in the Ross Valley. The center has been an integral and valued institution for the children and families it serves and the greater Ross Valley community for over 50 years. The County’s interest in the Center goes back decades. It is one of six programs county-wide providing subsidized preschool and affordable childcare for some our most economically vulnerable families and is the only provider in the Ross Valley.
The County has provided $250,000 annually for the last 10 years to support the Center and other local childcare providers towards ensuring ongoing affordable early childhood education programming, preservation of state subsidized childcare slots, and expansion of programs supporting whole child health, including a longstanding partnership with the Marin Child Care Council to provide expanded subsidized quality preschool and affordable childcare slots for safety net childcare. Such funding has allowed safety net childcare services to continue for children and families that could lose these services due to the reimbursement gap between state income restrictions and the cost of childcare in high-cost Marin County. These services allow a family to transition smoothly from the immediate, short-term childcare needed as a parent starts work or work activities to the stable, long-term childcare necessary for the family to leave and remain off of public assistance. Most recently, the County allocated $1 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds toward supporting the work of the early childhood education/childcare community and partners to bolster teacher training and retention, expand early childhood mental health services, and general capacity building.
Despite these efforts, Marin’s childcare capacity is not nearly sufficient to meet our needs locally – a situation mirrored across the state. There are on average over 500 children on the Marin Childcare Council’s centralized eligibility list awaiting a subsidized childcare slot. We cannot afford to lose any child care slots, let alone an entire center like the Fairfax–San Anselmo Children’s Center.
The County of Marin stands ready to support an outcome to the dissolution of the Deer Park property, owned by the Ross valley School District, that would allow for continued operation and a path to long term viability for the Fairfax–San Anselmo Children’s Center. Our partnership with the Center and all stakeholders to support the continuation of childcare and early childhood education services at the Deer Park Site includes financial contributions for facility rehabilitation, as well as with assistance working with our state and federal partners to secure additional resources to ensure long term operation of this valuable community resource.
We respectfully urge the Ross Valley School District to consider these comments and to advise how we, and other partners – including the Marin County Office of Education and the Marin Community Foundation – can assist in the effort to preserve this important community asset and critically needed service.
Sincerely,
Stephanie Moulton-Peters, President
Marin County Board of Supervisors
Cc: Heidi Tomsky, Executive Director, Fairfax–San Anselmo Children’s Center
John Carroll, Superintendent of Marin County Schools
Rhea Suh, President & CEO, Marin Community Foundation
Marin County Board of Supervisors
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