East Union’s ECC loses $75k of state funding after grant program changes

AFTON - In what Early Childhood Center director Peggy Hardy described as “a surprising mess,” East Union was able to confirm the loss of a $75,000 funding source which has been in place for almost three decades.

Hardy reported to the East Union school board on the Early Childhood Center during last week’s meeting.

The report transferred to discussion around the ECC’s state funding streams. Hardy had reported on the funding streams during last month’s school board meeting, describing how Iowa’s new legislation on early childhood learning clashed with East Union’s services.

Due to the operation of the infant toddler center and ECC’s preschool programing, East Union serves two roles in early childhood care - preschool and childcare. The legislation, in order to receive funding for the new grant service Early Childhood Continuum of Care, requires one of those services to be independent of the school district.

East Union, in the local area, has no option for an independent service, and could potentially miss on an essential source of funding.

The ECC receives two major grant programs of funding. Shared Visions grants were explained by Hardy to be $200,000 of funding to be spent on staff and ECC services.

The other grant, Wrap Around, was awarded for $75,000 in previous years. The grant would help fund before and after school services, wrapping around the school day. However, Hardy confirmed the district will not be receiving the grant this year.

“The Wrap Around grant money disappeared,” Hardy said. “We didn’t know it was going to happen. We’ve had it here since 1997. We’ve had to write for it every three to five years. There was nothing on the horizon saying it was going to go away. It’s been one of our most stable things we’ve had.”

How sudden was this change? The Wrap Around program had opened requesting proposals from school districts in Iowa for the next round of funding before the sudden closure.

Hardy said she had completed writing a grant application comprised of 37 pages for the next round of funding, paid to mail it and then received notice two weeks after submission detailing how no application would be read and no funds awarded.

“It was a total shock,” Hardy said. “That tells you that the Wrap Around people at the state level didn’t know their own program was being discontinued, or they wouldn’t put out [request for proposals].”

Funding for the Wrap Around program will instead go to the new Iowa Early Childhood Continuum of Care program, but East Union would still not qualify for the funds they used to receive.

Hardy noted how valuable each of these funding streams are for the ECC, and was disappointed by these changes.

“We’re a little salty about it,” Hardy said. “Doing these multiple funding streams is not fun. Meeting all these requirements, writing the grants, keeping track of it; it’s a pain in the butt. But we did it because it’s good for families and kids, right?”

East Union’s ECC meets every requirement for the Continuum of Care program except for the independent preschool partnership. There are no services in Afton which East Union could partner with in order to meet the requirement, despite East Union providing the service within the means of their own district.

Superintendent Tim Kuehl in what he called his “short editorial” said how the funding requirements were akin to funding private preschools.

“They’re essentially trying to fund private daycares,” Kuehl said. “Other districts - where we did half-day preschool because you can’t afford to build enough rooms to do all-day preschool because you need to split it - they’re just going to funnel those dollars to the childcare provider. To the private daycare centers.”

Hardy noted the Continuum of Care program’s start date, on recommendation from ECC groups to Iowa legislation, was delayed to July 1, 2026, allowing more discussion on the finer details of the program. Hardy still hopes East Union could receive a waiver on the independent preschool requirement.

Out of these issues, the funding changes negatively impact smaller rural districts because they aren’t able to easily meet the standard set by the new regulations.

“Because we’re small and rural, we’re not quite fitting in with what they’re trying to do,” Hardy said.

East Union’s $200,000 Shared Visions grant funding is still expected to be available, but Hardy noted how no requests for proposals have been sent to districts, despite an expectation to be available by late winter.

“I went on the state website, everything says delayed, to be determined,” Hardy said.

Other funding sources from the state establish child care assistance programs to help low-income families give their children access to quality early childhood education.

Alongside updates to attendance, Hardy also gave an update to the Infant Toddler Center’s maintenance. A few of the classrooms received water damage during recent storms. Along with that, a few pests were spotted near the center’s grounds, requiring the need of pest control.

Hardy said these troubles are expected as the center adapts to a not-quite-new building. The center was converted from the former Afton Care Center, with some growing pains as the center adapts to the slick new remodeling.

With the furnishing of the indoor classrooms, the ECC is looking to receive more grant funding for outdoor learning areas. Hardy said she’s hopeful the ECC will receive the funding and work on the outdoor spaces through the summer and fall.