Teachers Schedule

[Emma H]

Is the teachers schedule something that is in high demand....Recently I have been getting a lot of replies from teachers and it wasn't something that interested me due to no payment in the summer lol Now I am really considering slowly switching over to the teachers schedule....I charge 35 per day currently with 10 vacation days (poor things gave 14 days because I didn't realize its only 5 days per week they should get lol so 10 days not 14!) But I was thinking of getting rid of my vacation days and giving people summers off, Christmas break and march break for free but to charge a higher daily rate. What kind of increase would be reasonable....

Thanks a bunch

[pink]

I had a teacher, during the summer she paid me 3 days per week to keep her spot. I wish, I wouldn't of not given her that option, I lost 2 days of income per week for two months. Whenever she was off school PD days, Christmas Break, I was paid as well. I would keep my contract the same, no special deals for teachers.

[Suzie_Homemaker]

Is the teachers schedule something that is in high demand

No more so than other industry and will change on your location and main employer in your area. I have lot of fishermen because that big industry here. I doubt it be high demand in down town Toronto.
If you live next door to school, then it be higher demand. This is geography

What kind of increase would be reasonable....

It don't matter what reasonable. It matter what people willing to pay and what you need to pay your bills.

So if you give Summer off, that is 10 week.
When you say Christmas and March Break for free, not clear if you mean open or closed but since it free, Christmas is 2 week and March Break 1 week so altogether that mean 13 week a year no income. Quarter of the year no income.
If you plan to charge more then you have to charge enough to cover 13 week no income.

$35 a day = $175 a week. x 52 week a year = $9,100 from one FT place open year round

So to have same income but not open summer and to be "free" March Break & Christmas,

$9,100 / 39 weeks open a year / 5 days a week = $46.66 a day needed to have similar income.

If you think you can consistently fill places based on teacher as little point having summer off for some and not others, then you need to be ale to charge $46.66 a day for places.

[Dreamalittledream]

Hello. I operate a teacher's only daycare (my husband is a teacher and it's so wonderful to have family time off together). My daily rate is about average to high average for my area; but honestly, I attribute that to my earned experience and high quality care. Christmas Break, March Break and what usually ends up to being about 6 weeks consecutive total off in summer (a week after school ends and 2 weeks prior; prep time) are all unpaid breaks for me. I budget accordingly for these breaks. For the first while I opened for 3 days during the week during the summer break (& actually took on older, full-time children too)...I won't do that again. I found the attendance was spotty and opening for 1 to 2 kids really wasn't worth my time. I have had other local providers that envy my situation and try to get teachers only clients as well....although that can be difficult to build, once you're in and admired (and can find a way to offer incentives such as mine in unpaid vacay time), teachers are a very small network and you will hopefully find yourself full and waitlisted, as I am lucky to be. Hope that helps.

[mickyc]

I met with a great mom last night for my sept spot. She is a teacher and really not liking the idea of paying for summer. I did offer her a $5 day decrease for her time off but she is still having a hard time with the thought of paying me during her time off.

I have a teacher currently (that's who is leaving). I normally fill the spot for summer but I am tired of doing it in reality. I won't take a bigger drop in pay and she already knows my rate so can't increase it. She is meeting with another provider who closes summers. She will likely go there I imagine providing it is a relatively nice place and a friendly provider. Oh well.

I have another interested but only needs care from sept 2015-june 30, 2016. Hmmmmmm...... I guess I can meet with them and see what they are like.

[Suzie_Homemaker]

I have 2 teachers. That is normal. They pay for their place, not attendance. Both come some days in Summer. Maybe 50-70% attendance. They not come Christmas but could if they wanted. It their place afterall.

If teacher not want to pay for summer, that fine, they can choose different provider. :-) If they come here, they pay. Up to them.

[bright sparks]

I have had numerous teachers. I charged a 50% retainer in the summer and full price for Xmas and March Breaks, if they came then that was fine as it was their spot. My last teacher screwed me over big time. They say that they have no issue paying in the Summer until the summer arrives and they are paying out that much money completely unnecessarily. Then they will leave you high and dry...not always but commonly. This teacher in question also had 2 children in my care so a double dollar amount. $800 per month when she was at home honestly if I was in her shoes, it wouldn't be something I would do, it really is like burning money. That being said, the year and a half I had her first child and her second for 6 months counted for nothing when she found someone who was open only school year round and didn't charge for the off weeks. At the end of the day, that is an awful lot of money for them to lose out on for a service they do not require and at the same time it is a massive loss for a daycare provider to take. I think teacher only providers are the ideal scenario and since then I haven't signed up a teacher for the fact that I decided to charge per enrollment regardless of profession. I had to change my mentality from "something is better than nothing right?" thinking that 50% was better than nothing, when in reality if I didn't take that 50% retainer I could fill it with a full timer who wouldn't leave me at a moments notice should a more financially appealing spot come along. I have come across only 1 family of teachers who would pay the money that their provider was worth because the number one priority was the care in addition to having the luxury of being able to afford to which so many can not. So many parents in general put daily rate as number one criteria regardless of the provider and their program. I certainly wouldn't have the luxury of shelling out money for a service that I didn't require, and really from a parents perspective, it makes absolutely no financial sense to do so either.

[Emma H]

thank you for all your help