Childcare council outlines licensing plan, subsidy pilot and possible use of $200,000 municipal grant

The Skagway Child Care Council told the Civic Affairs Committee on Feb. 26 that Little Dipper's Learning Center is pursuing a plan to cover an age gap in local childcare by creating a separate program for school-age children and that a state license application for the proposed Presbyterian Church site is pending a fire-marshal review.

"We're hoping to have a new childcare center for the older kids at the Presbyterian Church in the basement," Jules Miles, vice president of the Skagway Child Care Council, said. She told the committee the application is under state review and the primary outstanding issue is whether the fire marshal will approve a basement space without a sprinkler system given the children would mostly be awake and mobile.

Miles said Little Dipper's has hiring underway after its administrator stepped down, that two strong administrator candidates are scheduled for interviews and that the organization expects to hire additional staff if the church site is approved. She emphasized the proposed program would be separately budgeted from Little Dipper's core operations and would require separate staff and funding.

The council described a subsidy pilot modeled on another program (referred to in discussion as "Juno") designed to allow daycares to pay higher wages without passing the full cost to parents. Miles said the council hopes the borough will consider investing the municipal $200,000 grant — originally conceived as a one-time startup pool — into a subsidy trust that could sustainably support higher wages and reduce turnover rather than giving single-year grants meant solely for startup costs.

Assembly members and childcare representatives discussed grant eligibility rules, including a previously drafted municipal grant that required 10 children enrolled per month year-round for some awards and that in-home daycares face different staffing ratio requirements if they exceed eight children. Miles and others warned that the strict eligibility language in earlier drafts discouraged applicants and recommended clearer, less restrictive language alongside hands-on technical support for applicants navigating state licensing.

Former Little Dipper's administrator Carrie Rea and current director Kate Butler urged the assembly to consider appointing an assembly liaison to the childcare council and to encourage recording or posting council meetings to improve transparency and help community members follow complex regulatory and funding discussions.

Next steps: The childcare council will continue licensing work, may expand outreach to potential in-home providers, will submit grant applications and recommended the committee consider a letter of support to the state licensing office to expedite review for the Presbyterian Church site. The committee agreed to discuss a letter of support at its next assembly meeting and to revisit subsidy and grant strategy at the March Civic Affairs meeting.