Children's Center eases a full load

Time, and money: finding enough of both to get through college is a challenge familiar to most students.

Throw a kid into the equation and, without help, the challenge can become a serious obstacle.

With Congress debating not whether but by how much to slash funds earmarked for student loans and Aid to Families with Dependent Children, the Associated Students' Children's Center is a beacon in the storm for students at SF State who are also parents.

"I think that without financial aid and the child care center, I would not be here," said Anabel Baxley, a junior psychology major.

Baxley's sons Jonathan and C.J. spend three full days a week at the center, from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Her classes are usually over by 2 p.m., which gives her time to study on campus. That is a luxury she could not afford while attending City College of San Francisco, because hiring a caregiver for her children for more than a few hours at a time was too expensive.

With that time freed up, "I tend to want to be more social, and to find out more what is going on on campus," she said. That doesn't necessarily translate into having time to relax, however. "I have to be organized, or my life will fall apart," she said of going to school and being a parent. "It's that simple."

Baxley is one of 15 students this semester receiving a total of $5,000 in scholarships that pay part of each recipient's child care costs.

AS determines current market rates, and sets the sliding scale it charges students below those rates. Students with larger families and lower incomes pay less, with rates for infants ranging from $18.50 to $33.75 for a full day of care, said Children's Center director Sarah Johnson.

The Children's Center is definitely a bargain, but for Baxley there were other, more important considerations.

"Before I brought (Jonathan and C.J.) here three weeks ago, I did an extensive search of day care centers -- and I did not want to place them in any of them," she said. But she had no such reservations about the AS Children's Center.

"I can drop in on (the children) any time I feel like it, and that really helps, because I think leaving them in child care was harder for me than it was for them," she said.

The staff, Baxley said, are "very genuine people. They try to get parents involved, and everybody knows you by name. I find that amazing."

The center employs four full-time "head teachers" and 22 part-time employees, all students. Biology senior Rachelle Garret, whose four-year-old son Gabriel is enrolled at the center, wants to ensure that current high standards are maintained.

"My biggest concern is keeping qualified teachers. I don't know how much they pay, but I know it's not competitive," she said.

Johnson said that the head teachers are paid salaries competitive in the childcare field, but that salaries for the field are low.

"That's a national, abysmal issue," she said. The competition, she said, is from other fields, where workers with comparable experience and education levels are paid more than the center's teachers.

AS sets the salary levels of the center's employees, and Johnson said she had been able to secure three raises over the past five years for the head teachers, raising their salaries from $17,000 a year to $24,000.

"I'd like them to be $24,000 to $32,000," she said.

For the past two years Johnson has been asking AS to implement a salary classifications and scales policy, she said, allowing teachers to look at a chart and see what they can expect to be making.

Under the policy, teachers with masters degrees could also expect to be paid more than teachers with four-year degrees, according to Johnson. Two of the center's teachers currently have postgraduate degrees, she said.

Approval from AS for the change has been slow because new student administrations come in every year and need time to become aware of the many budget issues confronting them, Johnson said.

"I would be willing to go down and demonstrate outside the (Cesar Chavez Student Center) to make st

[ Golden Gater Online September 28, 1995 ]

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