Child care has always been a financially challenging business. Even before COVID-19, our center, Mini Mos Child Care and Preschool in Esko, struggled financially. During the pandemic, it got worse. Like so many child-care centers in Minnesota, we were teetering, barely hanging on.

Quality child care is expensive to provide. There is no way around it. Staffing is one of our biggest challenges. Currently, 73.3% of our budget is for staffing. For reference, most experts say that to run a financially sound business, no more than 50% of your budget should be for staffing. That leaves little left to cover the myriad overhead expenses we have. And prices just keep going up. Read more.