Everett Community College Early Learning Center to Close

Early Learning Center at Everett Community College

The Early Learning Center recently let Everett Community College families know that they will be permanently closing the Early Learning Center, starting at the end of June.

Two statements were released, one by the ELC Director and one from the VP of Instruction. Both are shown below.

Here’s what she wrote:

It is with a heavy heart that I am writing to inform you that the leadership of Everett Community College has made the difficult decision to permanently close the Early Learning Center, effective June 30, 2025. 

Inside ELC at Everett Community College

This was not a decision the college made lightly. For many years, our team of dedicated early childhood educators has cherished the opportunity to support your children as they grow, learn, and deveop; we are deeply grateful for the truest you have placed in our team.

Unfortunately, due to ongoing budget challenges, the college can no longer afford to financially support the center’s exemplary quality of care. Despite multiple efforts to find a viable fiscal solution, the college reached a point where continued operation is no longer sustainable. 

I understand that this news will create significant challenges for your family, and we sincerely apologize for any disruption and inconvenience this may cause. 

I am sharing a link for findchildcarewa and hope it may give you some guidance on finding alternative childcare providers. 

The college leadership wants to express their deepest gratitude to the ELC’s dedicated staff, who have poured their hearts and souls into creating a wonderful learning environment for your children. Their commitment and passion have been invaluable. 

Thank you once again for being a part of EvCC’s ELC family. We will truly miss your children and the strong community we have built together.

Sincerely,

Rachelle, ELC Director

A follow-up letter from Cathy Leaker, Everett Community College’s Vice President of Instruction provides financial context for the closure decision. Here’s what she wrote:

Dear EvCC Early Learning Center families:

I am writing to follow up on Director Rachelle Refling’s letter of May 8, 2025 and to provide more context for the decision the College has made regarding the closure of the ELC.

For many years, Everett Community College has supported and subsidized the work of the Early Learning Center. While we have done our best to keep the center running through a combination of funding sources, the mounting financial pressures on center operations are simply not sustainable for us. The challenge of ensuring fiscal sustainability is heightened because the grant sources and emergency stabilization funds that have maintained the ELC’s operations over the past few years are either decreasing or ending altogether.

As these emergency revenue replacement streams have decreased, the ELC’s operating costs have increased. This places the College in the position of either increasing the cost to parents for enrolling their children, covering the difference with funds from other grant sources, or subsidizing the deficit from its general operating fund. Since the pandemic, the College has relied on grants to cover costs, but as noted above, these grants will not continue indefinitely. The College projects the ELC to operate in a deficit of at least $300,000 per year beginning next fiscal year (2025-2026) and increasing annually.

As a community college, we have a responsibility to our core mission which is to provide students with access to a higher education credential that will support their career and economic success. This is especially true in light of cuts in federal and state funding for higher education. Given such limited resources, we just do not have the capacity or the executive expertise to continue supporting the Early Learning Center at the level the children and families of Snohomish County deserve.

This is neither an easy nor a hasty decision, but one that the college has wrestled with for the past few years. While the college is stepping away from our role as direct providers of early childhood education, we remain committed to a broad educational vision for Snohomish County and to working together with all educators and educational organizations to realize that vision.

I thank you for your patronage of the center. Sincerely,

Cathy Leaker, Ph.D. Vice-President of Instruction