Tucson School District Turns Tucson Schools into Daycare Centers

By Balazs Szekely, Associate Editor

Two elementary schools in Tucson will soon become daycare centers. The Tucson Unified School District recently decided to alter the function of Schumaker Elementary and Brichta Elementary in order to create low-cost child-care centers for employees, Arizona Daily Star reports.

With Schumaker near East Fifth Street and North Pantano Road on the east side of Tucson, and Brichta near West Speedway and North Silverbell Road on the west, the two currently closed elementary schools will become Infant and Early Learning centers after TUSD carries out the renovations worth $1.3 million.

TUSD employees will be able to enroll their children (age 5 and younger) in the institutions for fees ranging from $350 to $445 a month, depending on the child’s age. Although the temporary fee structure involves TUSD partners, employees’ relatives as well as the public, the program will include only current employees in the long run. TUSD will later consider opening further centers to serve the community, based on the public’s general interest and the overall the success of the initiative.

District Superintendent H.T. Sanchez projects that in contrast to the financial load on the parents, the education curriculum will not drop behind the level of for-profit institutions of the same kind, and promises a solid education to prepare children there for kindergarten.

Sanchez also told the Daily Star that desegregation funds will help pay for construction costs. The funds are considered a one-time investment, and the centers are expected to pay for themselves in the future.

The centers are expected to open by the start of the 2014-2015 school year.

Photo courtesy of Schumaker Elementary School via Facebook