The Need for an Educare Scholarship Fund
The Educare Early Learning Center serves children from the most at-risk families with
children from birth through five years old, providing intensive full day full year child
development and family services. In order to enroll in our center, a family must qualify
for Head Start which funds part day education services, health and family support.
Families must also be able to pay for the child care portion of their care to extend the
educational day to 6-10 hours which is usually through assistance from the state’s
Working Connections Child Care program. The combination of funding from Head Start,
child care assistance funding, and philanthropic support provides the resources for the
highest quality comprehensive services at the Educare Center.
Child care subsidy funding is erratic: parents often find out on very short notice that they
have lost their state subsidy, perhaps due to a layoff or a chain of events set off by
domestic violence. Typically, when a parent loses the ability to pay for child care, the
child can no longer attend the program. Yet research shows that children, especially
those from at-risk families, are most likely to succeed in school and life if they have
stable and nurturing care in a program like Educare until they go to kindergarten.
A scholarship fund will allow us to maintain a child’s enrollment in Educare even if child
care assistance disappears. A family can request a partial or full scholarship to cover the
period in which they are out of work and don’t qualify for child care assistance. A child
whose parent needs the opportunity to deal with a barrier to building a strong family can
be enrolled. In this way, the child’s healthy learning and development can continue
without the disruption of being “expelled” and the parent can continue to receive family
support so she can return to work or school.
We estimate that at any given time, about 20% of the children in our center will require
scholarships to maintain their enrollment at Educare. The cost of these scholarships is
approximately $262,000 a year.
John Bancroft was a key leader in bringing Educare to Washington State and building the
Educare Early Learning Center at Greenbridge. John worked at the Puget Sound Educational
Service District for 18 years and as Executive Director of PSESD’s Head Start program,
expanded early childhood services throughout the region. John’s vision, that every child has
access to high quality early learning programs, has inspired the scholarship fund.
Thursday, October 22, 2015
REQUEST FOR PSESD JOHN BANCROFT SCHOLARSHIP FUNDS
(PSESD Internal Form)
Date: _____________________
Parent/Guardian Name: __________________________________________________
Child(ren’s) name:_______________________________________________________
Nature of
request/circumstance:____________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
What can you afford to pay each month?______________________________________
Parent/Guardian signature:_________________________________________________
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(Educare staff only below this line)
Educare Staff Making Request: ____________________________________________
Name
Position
Child Plus ID#:
(Note: Include information verifying that this child is enrolled in PSESD program
Current/previous funding source:
DSHS___ CPS____ Step Ahead _____ Tribal____ CCR Homeless Program_____ Other____
Have Continuity of Care Funds been exhausted? Yes ___ No____
Current Co-pay (If applicable):_________
Requested Amount:_________________________________________________
Amount of parent contribution: _________
Date Funds Needed By: ______________________
Ongoing scholarship? Yes___ No ___
For short term scholarships, indicate months support requested by this request
Site Manager Approval:____________________________________ Date_______
P-3 Campus Director Approval: _____________________________Date _______
Fund Manager Approval ___________________________________ Date_______
Reviewed: October 2015
John Bancroft Scholarship Fund – Use of Funds and Reporting
1.
Criteria or parameters for use of funds
 Age range 0-5 and siblings
 For Child Care Tuition
2.
Preferences given:
 Enrolled children who lose full day subsidy
 Children living in P-3 Campus Catchment Area (White Center
Heights Elementary)
3.
Requirement for use of fund as a last resort:
 Efforts must be made to access any other available resources such
as Head Start Continuity of Care, Child Protective Services (CPS),
Child Care Resources (CCR) Homeless Program, and/or any other
employee or school related scholarships.
4.
Time period for use of funds:
 One school year
5.
Application and decision-making process:
 An internal panel of Family Advocate Manager, Site Manager and
P-3 Campus Director will review applications and sign approval
before sending to Scholarship panel.
6.
Information recorded to track how funds are used and how
children/families benefitted:
 Site manager will track scholarships used.
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Process for Accessing
PSESD JOHN BANCROFT SCHOLARSHIP FUNDS
There is one form that the Educare Leadership and the ESD business office needs in order to
process a scholarship request, the PSESD John Bancroft Scholarship Application (which is
an internal ESD form that is available to all Educare staff).
Use of funds and reporting parameters have been developed and families must meet the criteria
in order to be considered. Those parameters include: age range of children, tuition costs,
preferences, funds of last resort, time period, decision making process, tracking, etc. and can be
found in the document, John Bancroft Scholarship Fund – Use of Funds and Reporting.
PROCESS:
1. An internal Educare panel of Family Advocate Manager, Site Manager and P-3 Campus
Director will review applications and sign approval before sending to Scholarship panel
for final approval.
2. Once final approval is received from the Scholarship Panel, the P-3 Campus Director or
designee will send completed, signed, and approved applications to the Executive
Director of the School, Family, and Community Partnership office in Renton (Claire
Wilson).
3. The Executive Director will review and submit to ESD Director of Business Services
(Amy Fleming) for transfer of requested dollars into the Educare budget for access and
use.
Thursday, October 22, 2015