Of course it's fair. The center must pay its' employees, just as the Federal Government must pay its' employees when shut down due to snow. It must also continue to pay the mortgage, heat, lights, and insurance. Much more goes into to the tuition costs than I just mentioned: licensing fees, supplies, toys, required training courses, taxes.

None of this goes away when a center or family day care business closes. Most legitimate Family or Center based businesses do not close indiscriminately. Much angst goes into the decision. Any small business owner knows that if the customer is not well-served, he will go elsewhere. Some of the closing decisions may be made by the insurer of the business (the insurance companies seem to be making more and more decisions for us--but that's another post!). If the day care remains open, it has to be plowed before children can be accepted. Perhaps the center cannot afford, or hasn't rolled those costs into the tuition(could be well over $1000 depending on size and location). If one child or parent slips and falls and breaks a bone, the center could be sued.

Most childcare businesses run on a shoestring profit. Many are not-for-profits (like churches) and just pay the bills. I can only speak for small family childcare, but in those places, the provider "takes home" half to 1/3 of what you actually pay. . . And is then taxed again with the "self employment tax". I know it's annoying, but please try to look at things from the other side of the fence. Would YOU be willing to exchange your position to do what they are doing? If so, what would you do when none of your employees were willing to risk life & limb to get to a $10 an hour job? If you opened without the requisite number of employees, you would be "out of compliance" and (if anyone found out, or anything bad happened) your business could be closed down or (once again) sued.

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