Betsy Rodriguez and the closure of KinderMission Academy

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Last summer the legislature chose not to make meaningful public investment in early childhood care and education in the face of expiring pandemic-era federal funds. This summer, with those funds scheduled to sunset on June 30, lawmakers committed $67.5 million to continue funding stabilization grants at a reduced amount through the end of 2024. 

To understand some of the impact of these policy decisions, EdNC has been tracking changes to the number of licensed programs across North Carolina for the last year, using quarterly data provided by the NC Child Care Resource and Referral Council (CCR&R) in partnership with the NC Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE).

While that work involves a lot of spreadsheets and math, what I always keep in mind is that data points are people. Each program closure is the loss of a small business, someone’s dream for themselves and their community. 

So when Betsy Rodriguez introduced herself to me at a legislative rally in May and told me she was facing the imminent closure of her center in High Point, I asked if I could walk beside her this summer and share her story. 

Betsy was a “straight A student” preparing to graduate high school when she learned she was pregnant. She stayed focused on her goal of becoming a principal one day, working two jobs while attending college full time. But she struggled to afford both rent and child care. She imagined running her own early childhood care and education program, and finding a way to help families like hers afford tuition.

Betsy opened KinderMission Academy in 2018. She established the nonprofit KinderMission Foundation the following year to provide scholarships to child care students, professional development to educators, and resources such as financial literacy training to parents.

The stabilization grants she received during the pandemic helped her child care center survive, educating young children during a critical point in their development and enabling their parents to work.  But starting last fall, as that public investment diminished, KinderMission Academy began struggling financially. Betsy described a “perfect storm” of inflation, staffing shortages, and pre-scheduled rent increases for her site. 

Her landlords had shown a willingness to work with her on rent payments so she could stay in operation, but in January she was forced to stop offering scholarships and raise tuition to stay afloat.

Some families were priced out. She went from 92 to 70 students. Fewer students meant fewer classrooms, and Betsy had to cut her staff from 28 to 20. All of these changes meant she was paying rent she couldn’t afford for classrooms she couldn’t fill.

When I met Betsy in May she had exhausted the goodwill of her landlords. They’d told her they needed a tenant who could consistently pay market rate and they’d be terminating her lease on June 30. But she hadn’t given up hope. “Why not believe in the impossible?” she asked on a phone call on May 22. 

I visited KinderMission Academy on June 2, when Betsy had a whiteboard full of strategies for how to keep the center open. She’d just sold her house to fund her efforts.

By mid-month, it was clear she’d have to close her business. She texted me: “I have been very emotional through it and I’m trying to navigate through these feelings. I haven’t really had time to stop and I don’t even know if I know how to. My passion for who we serve and what we do has really kept me going. I am trying to see how I fit in when it comes to this; I feel like losing KinderMission, I’ve lost a part of my identity.”

Despite Betsy’s dedication and faith — and local media coverage of her situation — KinderMission Academy closed its doors on June 21. 

Now, six weeks after closing, she’s still figuring out what the next phase of her career in early childhood education will look like.

Betsy’s nonprofit KinderMission Foundation bought EdPath Specialized Learning Services, which offers one-on-one or community-based specialized student instruction, tutoring, behavior consultation, parent coaching, and professional development for early childhood educators. 

She’s once again full of ideas and inspiration for how she can support students, educators, and their families, though she’s still thinking of all the educators like her who are running small businesses without the support they need to succeed. 

“I would not say that I wouldn’t open a center ever again… It’s not worth my sanity, even though I’m great at it. And I love what I do. It was just costing me my peace of mind, and that I can’t get back,” Betsy said. 

By sharing her story, she hopes other owners and educators will feel less alone — and that policymakers will see the closure of her small business as more than just a data point. 

I’ll continue walking alongside Betsy Rodriguez as she follows this new career path and may share more about her journey in the future. 

And while Betsy’s child care closure story is about a licensed center, my latest analysis of the data found the vast majority of closures (85%) have been among licensed family child care homes. Liz and I plan to tell some of those personal stories in the months to come.

Until next time,

Katie Dukes

Email Katie Dukes

Katie Dukes is the director of early childhood policy at EdNC.