MONROE COUNTY, Pa. — Filled with pencils and books, the classroom inside The Growing Tree Day Care & Learning Center near Marshalls Creek in Monroe County is set up for the day.
"Early education is extremely important. Children are like sponges. They absorb so much," said Suzanne Delcorso, the director and owner of The Growing Tree.
Delcorso says centers like hers that provide these services are in jeopardy.
The pandemic-era emergency child care funds from the government are expected to expire on Saturday. It was the money she received and used for staff.
"It helped us and the staff that were here. We're very appreciative of getting that money; it helped them. And then, like I said, we got some great staff on top of it because we were able to give them a little bit higher salary," said Delcorso.
Althea Trice is the director of TotAlly For Kids Academy in East Stroudsburg. She says with the funding phasing out, the center cannot accept more students because they don't have enough money to pay for the employees they need.
"How we can effectively hire and be able to meet the demands that the employees need because we know that they need monies to be able to live, and yet and still be able to meet the guidelines for the state as far as ration numbers," said Trice.
Center directors say now, it will be a balancing act between trying to support teachers while also offering care parents can afford.
"We're not really sure what we're going to do. We don't want to raise the family's child care cost because, you know, they have two and three kids, and you know, child care is expensive. So, if we do, that's the only way we can help pay our salaries," said Delcorso.
Center directors say they knew the funds were coming to an end but were hoping that the government would step back in and help again.
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