State College parents will pay more for the school district’s after-school, summer programs

State College parents will soon pay more for the school district’s after-school elementary program, but some still see it as a win for a sought-after program that had been in jeopardy.

The Community Education Extended Learning Program, or CEEL, is a before and after-school program for elementary school students within the district. The program has been a massive help for many district families, letting parents drop students off before school starts and providing a place for children to stay until 5:30 p.m. After weeks of discussion about the program’s future, SCASD’s board of directors voted last month to keep the program in-house during the licensing process, but said it will have to raise fees to do so.

For the last eight years, the district has been in a legal battle with the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services over the program’s status.

“For more than a decade, the district has been in litigation with DHS about whether the CEEL program is officially a childcare program or, as the district has contended, a continuation of the regular school day authorized by the state Department of Education and state school code,” a district spokesperson wrote in a release following the Feb. 19 board meeting.

In November, the Commonwealth Court ruled with DHS, leaving the district to begin the licensure process to keep the program and seek proposals from third-party vendors to present to the board.

In February, the board held discussions on two third-party proposals from Right at School and KinderCare Champions, drawing concern from parents in the CEEL program. Multiple parents spoke for nearly 40 minutes during public comment, asking the board to keep the program in-house.

Heather Baruch-Bueter, a parent to a first-grade student at Corl Street Elementary, is one of the many parents who spoke at February board meetings to garner support for keeping the program in-house. She said the CEEL program and staff are irreplaceable and provide much more than other daycare programs could offer.

“My partner and I both work full time so (CEEL) makes us feel secure in the district,” Baruch-Bueter told the CDT. “(My daughter) is able to go somewhere after school lets out and have fun and learn and be outside and be with her friends and meet new people and interact with some older kids and some younger kids and some staff members.”

At a Feb. 19 meeting, the board unanimously approved a motion to reject all bids from third-party vendors to run the CEEL program, effectively keeping the program in-house.

“I think everybody pretty much had similar concerns about the ability of the two companies to meet the needs we would need for them to take over this CEEL program,” board member Aaron Miller said during the meeting.

But the decision comes at a cost. Prices for the program will increase for both after-school and summer sessions. For the 2024-2025 school year, monthly CEEL costs will increase by $75, from $295 to $370. Starting in June, summer session costs will increase by $25, from $225 to $250.

“However, after comparing our program with the local market and a financial review, we have determined that in order to keep the program within SCASD, we will need to increase prices for both programs,” administrators wrote in the recommendation to the board to reject all third party bids.

Repeated attempts to contact the district about the status of the CEEL Program and recent changes went unanswered.

Jessica McKeon, another CEEL parent who spoke out against the third-party vendor proposals, said she worried it would put CEEL’s programming with local organizations in jeopardy. CEEL partners with local businesses like Discovery Space, Millbrook Marsh and Lincoln Caverns throughout the year. McKeon said she believed third-party vendors would not be able to provide the same opportunities for students.

“I don’t want to say structured is a bad thing, but it was very cookie cutter,” McKeon said. “They had their program laid out. It was just ‘This is what all of our sites are doing, this is what they’re learning.’ There was really no room for those community partnerships that we loved so much.”

Previously, CEEL families could get scholarships or sibling discounts through the school district but as the program was not a licensed daycare families did not qualify for any state assistance.

Despite the price increase, Baruch-Bueter said, she hopes the upcoming licensure will help alleviate the strain and the price increase won’t be a barrier to families.

“Hopefully, the district can continue to provide discounts and scholarships for those families who need them,” Baruch-Bueter said.

Despite the price increase, the decision feels like a victory to Baruch-Bueter and McKeon.

“I just think it’s amazing that a group of three moms that have never done anything like this before got together and coordinated this effort and showed the school board how much this program means to us and what a wonderful asset it is to our community,” McKeon said. “And it just goes to show you know even though you don’t know what you’re doing and you kind of muddle your way through it in the beginning — you really can make a change.”