How to Manage the Admin Side of Daycare?

[bjarke8]

I am planning to start a home daycare as I have experience with kids I could provide free care for my son.

However, I have no idea what to expect from the admin side of the business. Some help understanding the following would be much appreciated...

1. What are the day-to-day admin tasks one needs to perform?
2. What are the challenges I can expect these tasks?
3. How to properly manage a waitlist?
4. What challenges can I expect with a large waitlist? Recommended tools etc.
5. Any other recommended tools that would make the admin process easier.

Thanks

[Cat Herder]

Kidkare makes most of it really fast and easy to keep up with once you learn it. Taxes, billing, menus, meal counts, attendance, shot records, enrollment forms, invoices, payments, etc. $8 a month.

Daily Connect handles parent communication, observations, assessments, photos, reminders, lesson plans, portfolios, temperatures, health info, sign-in/sign-out, etc. $1.25 per child.

The rest is up to you. The only way for your policies to work is for you to enforce them consistently. If you give in one time, your policies are invalid and you will be battling parents from then on. Decide what policies you will enforce and stick to them. Remember that Daycare is not a charity.

My waitlist is first come first serve. I don't charge to be on it. When an opening comes up, I look down the list and find the first child in the age group of the opening that I have (usually infant). I offer it to that family, if they decline I move on to the next. I use it more as a call back list. Many families are on it for 2-3 years before their child ages out. That is why I don't charge, the chance of getting in here is really low. I only have 6 slots and most go on to have multiple kids with me (enrolled families get first choice to hold slots for their TTC/unborn). I often have empty slots that are paid in full while family planning.

[bjarke8]

Thanks for the quick reply, this is really helpful.

How often do you find yourself working on the admin jobs you mentioned? I expect I will be doing all the admin work as I will have assistance with teaching and programmes.

I assume that tasks like attendace and meal counts is daily a daily routine, and that things like invoicing is monthly depending on when you issue.

If you could share any other challenges I would need and prepare for once I open the daycare it would be great?

Thanks

[Jo123ABC]

Here's a list of admin stuff I do mostly weekly. the food program prefers you to do daily I often do it weekly with my other administrative tasks. All together I'd say two to three hours just for the computer stuff I need to do on the weekend.
1. Menu--I make a menu for breakfast, lunch, snack for the week and prepare my grocery list at the same time.
2. Invoices--most of my families pay weekly so I start with a template of an invoice in word and then I update it weekly and print it off. This reminds families to pay when they're supposed to. It's probably not the most efficient way to do it I'm sure I could get one that is automatically generated but it works. Some pay monthly also so for those families I just do it at the end of the previous month but list each week in the invoice. That way there's no question of what they're paying for.
3. Kidkare food program--i punch in all of my meals and attendance for the week.
4. Extras--every so often I send out fliers for remembering winter gear, illness policy etc. I also review and update my policies as necessary as well as child info--food program forms, state papers, contract, etc.
5. Taxes-- I don't keep my taxes in any kind of program instead I save and sort all of my receipts by the month and then at the end of the year I take time to go through them all and enter them into a spreadsheet. Then I give the info to my accountant.
6. Wait-list--I used to try to keep a spreadsheet for this but I feel so few spots since I rarely have openings that now I just jot them down on a list and keep it in a handy place. I do like cat herder said and prioritize families with kids already enrolled.

Also, I have a receipt book, just a standard one I got from the store that I use for when parents pay me. Every time they pay me I write a receipt the same day usually. I use these at the end of the year when I'm doing my taxes.

[Cat Herder]

Originally Posted by bjarke8

Thanks for the quick reply, this is really helpful.

How often do you find yourself working on the admin jobs you mentioned? I expect I will be doing all the admin work as I will have assistance with teaching and programmes.

I assume that tasks like attendace and meal counts is daily a daily routine, and that things like invoicing is monthly depending on when you issue.

If you could share any other challenges I would need and prepare for once I open the daycare it would be great?

Thanks

I use auto-invoice and have to check weekly that everyone paid on time before I allow drop-offs on Monday mornings. They pay online and it must be done in advance for the week by 730 am. If you bill monthly, it would be cut down to once per month that you have to police payments.

The thing with auto-invoicing is that you have to change all recurring payments manually if you have to give a discount due to a closure or add any fees. That can take some time. I usually do those on Fridays because I have it set to send invoices on Saturday morning.

Immunization expiration dates are another tricky thing that I must keep up with here. No one can attend with an expired state form and I can be fined or closed for allowing it. I keep a tracking sheet posted by my desk and send home reminders at 30 days, 10 days and 5 days prior to expiration. It is overkill but they can't really argue when I turn them away at the door if they don't comply.

[AmyKidsCo]

Check out Tom Copeland's blog & books. He has TONS of great info about the business side of FCC. I really wish I'd known about him when I opened.