Enrollment of kids falls as area parents lose jobs.
As moms and dads lose their jobs, day care centers are losing children.
It's just one more industry affected by the economy's free fall.
The effect on Wichita's private day care centers varies, largely depending on the clientele served.
But collectively, the numbers are down, and at least one has closed in the past month.
"I'm not getting the phone calls I usually get to enroll kids," said Dixie Learned, director of St. Paul's Kids Kingdom Learning Center. "We're not even getting phone calls to check on prices.
"It's just really quiet."
Child Start, a Wichita organization that refers parents to local day care and home family care centers, said its referral numbers are way down.
From November 2007 through February 2008, Child Start made 1,466 referrals in Sedgwick County. For the same four-month period in 2008 to 2009, the service made only 870 referrals, a 41 percent drop.
"That's a huge, huge drop," said Teresa Rupp, Child Start's executive director.
The number reflects what's happening with the area's jobs.
There were 1,263 unemployment claims filed in the Wichita area in January 2008, according to the Kansas Department of Labor. That figure jumped to 5,694 -- a 450 percent increase -- this January.
The number of children in day cares is also down statewide.
According to figures provided by Salina-based Kansas Association of Child Care Resources and Referral Agencies, its referrals from the three-month period of October through December 2008 declined 47 percent from the previous year.
Providers' stories
While referral agencies only provide a glimpse of the picture, their numbers appear to provide a reasonable reflection of what's happening with day cares.
Gail Lanning said her Lanning's Learning Tree Child Care closed its center at 2021 S. Hillside, which had been operating since the early 1970s, on Feb. 2 because of low enrollment.
Some of the preschoolers attending the Hillside center are now at Lanning's other facility, 2390 S. Erie.
But Lanning said she still had to lay off three full-time and four part-time teachers.
"That's unfortunate," she aid. "For the last year, we really haven't made any money. Hopefully, we'll be able to make it."
At the same time, business is strong for New Song Academy.
New Song president and founder Phyllis Lowen said the center is close to its capacity of 268 children and is getting ready to add more classrooms.
"We've seen increased enrollment," she said.
Lowen also noted that most of her children's parents are professionals, such as lawyers and doctors.
"We don't have a lot in the aircraft industry," she said.
Lowen said only two mothers have reduced the number of days their children attend New Song. Both of them worked in the aircraft industry, she said.
At Tree House Learning Center, director Mandy Kupper said she has lost three children because of parents losing jobs.
But she said the center is at its capacity of 118 with a waiting list, so those three spots were quickly filled.
B.J. Hunt, director of E.L.F. (Environment for Little Folks) Children's Center, said he has seen a "slight change" in numbers.
"But not as much as you'd think," he said.
In fact, Hunt said business has been picking up in recent weeks. But he noted some of the increase may be attributed to adding a billboard for advertising and the usual increase in enrollment during the first three months of the year.
"So with the natural flow going on," he said, "the ebb isn't so bad."
But for the majority of the area's centers, business is off.
A number of day care directors pointed to the Wichita school district's preschool program as another factor in their decreased business. That program, however, is only for at-risk 4-year-olds.
"You can't compete with free," said Juanita Hayes, owner and director of Little Pals Day Care Center. "But every child should have a right to preschool."
Hayes is a fixture among Wichita's day cares, having operated Little Pals for 40 years.
Her number of enrolled children is down 5 to 30 percent from this time a year ago.
"Parents are getting laid off," she said. "Some have had to relocate to find employment."
Hayes is also familiar with surviving economic slumps.
"We've had ups and downs," she said. "We've had a lot of aircraft employees over the years. You know how that fluctuates."
To avoid laying off any of her four employees, she is cutting back on her pay.
"I don't want to bother staff," Hayes said. "We've had to make some adjustments."
The economy's harsh reality is also taking its toll on home centers.
For the first time since Gladys Figures started her home day care nine years ago -- the year after she was laid off at Boeing -- she doesn't have any children. Before Christmas, she worked two shifts to care for 15 children from six families.
Figures said all of her parents were laid off, most by the aircraft industry. Her last child left in late January.