For years, high costs and limited options have left Haines parents struggling to find childcare.
That problem just got worse. The Chilkat Valley Preschool, one of Haines’ few licensed childcare providers, announced this week that it’s closing for the second time in three years amid financial struggles. The latest closure is again raising concerns about younger families’ ability to thrive in Haines, or even stay there.
“Even if we’re open and there’s the option and they can’t afford it, they’re gonna leave,” said Dacotah Russell, the president of the preschool’s board of directors. “They’re gonna go somewhere where they can live on one income, and mom or dad can stay home with kids.”
School was supposed to start last week, but that plan changed suddenly when enrollment dropped from seven kids to just two. That happened after some families didn’t receive the state assistance they needed to cover tuition, Russell said.
That’s not even close to the number of kids the preschool would need to stay open and pay staff, Russell said. The school’s current capacity is around 10 students, depending on their ages.
“Last year, even with a preschool class and one teacher and assistant, we operated at a $58,000 loss,” Russell said. “And we had fundraisers every single month.”
Her own toddler, Bodie, was supposed to start there on Aug. 18.
“I’m piecing together what’s left of childcare, what hasn’t already been filled, to try to get five days a week,” Russell said. “It affects me directly.”
Ongoing financial challenges
It’s not the first time the school has shut down. Lack of staffing forced a closure that began in 2024. The facility just reopened last year after offering better pay and hiring more qualified staff.
Aside from fundraising, the preschool also worked to boost revenue by restructuring. That included seeking new licensing so it could enroll more students, including infants and toddlers.
Ultimately, those efforts weren’t enough.
Jessie Wuesthoff, a teacher and the vice president of the board of directors, announced the closure at a Haines Borough Assembly meeting on Tuesday. She said the math still just didn’t work.
“There is a significant gap between the tuition a childcare program must charge in order to pay qualified staff a livable wage, and the tuition many working families in Haines can reasonably afford,” she said.
Wuesthoff added that the closure reflects a larger problem in Haines that’s made worse by a lack of local funding that could help families cover costs. She said the school and preschool’s board hope that subsidies, public investment and other sources could be used to improve the situation for families and childcare providers.
During the assembly meeting, Mayor Tom Morphet said a childcare-focused committee has drawn up a “rough plan” to try to keep the preschool afloat. The idea would be to sell the building to the Chilkoot Indian Association. The borough would also have to contribute significant funding.
Morphet said the tribe could be eligible for federal funding to provide childcare that the borough wouldn’t qualify for.
“It is our great fortune that the Chilkoot Indian Association has expressed interest in taking on this role,” he said.
Another potential path could be using a $1 million federal grant the borough received earlier this year. It’s meant to be spent specifically on an early childhood education building. Morphet said those dollars could help expand the existing preschool building to make it into a larger childcare facility to serve more families.
“We understand the grave nature of our situation at this moment,” Morphet said. “As of last week, we only have eight students in our first grade class. We are bleeding young families, and we have to address it immediately.”
Morphet said the committee hopes to bring the proposal to the Assembly in the coming weeks.
