8 Friday. October 24.1975 University Daily Kansan Child care centers wail for funds By MARY ANN DAUGHERTY Staff Writer Douglas County day care centers are having difficulty finding the money to stay open, although money from the federal Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS) has been set aside especially for them. The money is available, members of the Douglas County Day Care Association (DCDCA) yesterday, but it's beyond the grass of most day care centers. Judy Thomas, DCDCa president, has explained the county commission to explain the case. Title XX of the Comprehensive Social Services Plan of SRS permits payment of up to $5.50 a child a day. But, because federal money must be matched with local funds, few centers receive the full daily reimbursement. Thomas said. The three Douglas County centers supported by Title XX have collected $2,000 from the United Way, $5,000 from the county and $4,000 from the city for their budget period running from July through December. According to the plan, SBI will pay $3,500 each month to supply an additional $33,000, and the total will be split among the centers. But representatives of the centers said local funds were insufficient to get the full reinvestment for each child using the centers. Thomas said more local money needed to be allocated to child care programs and the commission should next year's mill levy to raise the funds. Under the law, county governments may raise their tax levy by one-half mill for child care funds, Thomas said. In Douglas County, she said, the maximum increase is up to $20 million. However, she said, an increase of only one-fourth mill would probably be requested. Because the budget for 1976 has already been prepared, the commissioners said they couldn't raise the 1978 levy. However, they asked Thomas to prepare statistics on child care needs and present them to the commission by n-ext spring. If the commission approves the mill bill petition, the funds would be available for construction. Commissioner I. J. Stoneback said that he was in favor of child care programs. "Like I pointed out at the meeting, the divorcee who has to work and doesn't make much of a salary really needs the money," he said. In Douglas馆, Rita Spreadlin, DCD- A secretary-treasurer, as many as 150 men and women. Hilltop Child Care Center, which serves the children of University of Kansas students, staff, faculty and the community that uses the library, has requested them because of the shortage. Martha Langley, Hilltop staff member, said that most parents, were unable to pay the full cost of daily care for their children. She estimated that as many as one-half of the parents who brought their children to Hilltop needed financial assistance. Hillop charges $5 a day for each child enrolled in toddler and preschool programs "We're not in the red, but we're operating on a very tight budget," she said. Vera Mousseau, secretary of Little Indian Center, said one day's care cost more than the $5.50 Title XX allocation but Federal law prohibited charging above that figure. Lillian Flood, center director, said, "We're running in the red now. We have ever been since we started in 1972. We've never had enough funds." According to federal law, SRS can allocate the full $5.50 to the children of a City wants land for park The city will soon be negotiating with the Kansas University Endowment Association to acquire land needed for the proposed development of Watson City, city manager, said yesterday. The city has already talked with the Endowment Association about buying the land, Watson said, but hasn't made a final decision. At its regular meeting Tuesday night, the city commission approved the spending of funds for the park project, left to the city by the late J. L. "Trommv" Constant. Martin Henry, director of property management for the Endowment Association, said that the Endowment land association was under lease to a local corporation. The two-phase park project will be between Vermont and Tennessee streets and north of Sixth Street to the Kansas River. It will connect with the proposed Riverfront Park, which will run along an 11-mile length of the Kansas River. "But we recognize that any agreement with the city must honor the terms of earl and district courts." "The current lease will expire at the end of the current calendar year, 1975," Henry said, "and our conversations with the city, and we will have to do with our sale to them." "It's imunproved porphyry." Henry said. "That's the way we carry it on our books." He said that the Endowment Association's land comprised one tract of a number of normal-sized city lots. He said there were no large buildings in the lodges. Watson said that the Endowment Association's land was split by a railroad right-of-way, so the city would have to leave on a landrail to build on it. "They have indicated to us that they're quite willing to lease it to us," he said. "I will have to be leased, though. They never sell anything. They lease." Watson said that the lease of the railroad land would open the park to the river because the railroad owned the land betweenship of undertown Association's land and the river. The park will also be built on some commercially zoned land on Sixth Street, and, eventually, on where five houses and a vacant lot are on Tennessee Street. Watson said that a walkway bridge would cross over the railroad tracks to allow pedestrians to travel from Sixth Street to the river. Phase 1 of the park project will involve the appraisal and purchase of the Endowment Association's land and the vacant lot on Tennessee Street and the purchase of the commercially-zoned land, which is funded by Jim Clark of Jim Clark Motors, Inc. Watson said that the city had already agreed on a purchase price for Clark's land, comprised of four lots which have a used car lot and two houses on the north end. At the city commission meeting Tuesday, Watson said that the city might sell the houses on the Clark land if they could be moved off the property. Watson said he hoped that Phase I could be completed for the licentious next July. "We would try to purchase the property and begin to get grass and trees and everything planted in time for that," he said. Phase II will involve buying the five houses and vacant lot on Tennessee Street as the houses and funds become available, Watson said. He said that Mrs. Constant was pleased with the park project. "She's indicated that she thinks that this is a good effort on our part to do something with the money her husband left," Watson said. Constant founded the Constant Construction Co. and was a major building contractor. Chet and Carole Harvey Present FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT The Exceptions Friday, October 31, 8PM-1AM at The Fairgrounds Expo Center Advanced Tickets $3.50 At the door $4.50 Advanced Tickets Available At: Team Electronics four-member family whose income is less than $11,000 annually. Parents pay according to a graduated scale proportionate to incomes if they earn more than $11,000. Although Mousseau said the nine staff members at the Little Indian Center were to be paid twice a month, the Title XX c eck for September had not arrived. She said that neither Flood nor herself had been paid since July. Team Electronics 23rd & Lousiana Mousseau said the center had to cut back on what it spent for materials. The children use recycled paper, already used on one side, for their art work, she said. Regulations established by the State Department of Health and Environment prohibit centers from reducing per capita quality of food in the centers, Thomas said. In Douglas County, she said, only 354, 21 per cent, of the children of working mothers can be cared for in the 10 licensed centers or 15 licensed homes. Besides trying to raise funds, the DCDCA is trying to educate the public about the shortage of county child care facilities, Spradin said. For example, she said, the law requires one adult to supervise every three infants and Title XX allocation won't cover the salaries of that many people. Those who have licenses to keep children in their homes only receive $3.85 a day for each child from Title XX. Spreadl said the county will make to small home programs profitable. Most of these, she said, are filled and have waiting lists. "Child care needs to be given a higher priority," she said. 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