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Peggy Currie has been working at the Presbyterian Child Development Center Daycare for 16 years and said the center has had waiting lists for the 45 slots for children ages 6 weeks to 6 years almost since she started.

"Every now and then I'll have a room with openings and I'll be able to fit kids in, but overall that's not [the case]," Currie said.

The Presbyterian Child Development Center Daycare, 310 S. University Ave., has a waiting list with up to 50 children on it, and Currie said it takes six months to one year before they are able to enroll.

Other Carbondale daycares experience the same issues as public and private daycares continue to leave the community, an occurrence local directors attribute to increased expenses in providing services and decreased support from the state.

The Eurma C. Hayes Childcare Center has had declining enrollment and is targeted for closing by the end of the fiscal year. Although it has a capacity to serve 160 children, as of December only about 80 were enrolled.

The low enrollment rates have been blamed on changes in the Welfare Reform Act about 8 years ago. The act changed eligibility requirements, decreasing the ability to receive contributions to pay expenses for childcare.

The lack of state assistance, the result of a dried up $51,500 grant, would shift that part of the center's total budget over to the city, which pays about one-third of the $600,000 budget. The city's cost of operating the center is also expected to jump an extra $100,000 next year to $363,314. Remaining cost is supplemented by other state grants and parent contributions.

Currie said the increased cost of caring for infants and toddlers pushed the Presbyterian Child Development Center Daycare to expand when she started working there to include children over 3 years old. Formerly, it was the Presbyterian Infant Center. She said the expansion was to help bring in more money for the not-for-profit center, as well as better meet the needs of the growing community.

Puka School, 312 S. Wall St., also more than doubled its capacity about a year ago when it moved location and increased to service 107 children. Runell Graff, director of the school, said the old building became too crowded.

Capacity at all state-licensed daycares is determined through the Department of Child and Family Services by the number of teachers on staff, the square footage of the area serving the children and how that area is used.

Graff said the not-for-profit center typically fills to capacity during the summers, but averages an enrollment of about 90. She said if their enrollment ever drops, they simply place a marquee out front and the spots are filled almost immediately. They also have a waiting list for different age groups.

"We've had a list in almost every room, but every once in a while, one room's numbers will go down or another," Graff said. "Sometimes the babies can have 40 to 50 names on it, and the 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds have fewer names on it, but it's almost impossible to get in at that time."

Addie Gillespie of The Hannah House Child Development Center, 810 N. Wall, also a non-profit organization, said she does not use a waiting list but rather operates on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Gillespie said there are 97 children enrolled at the center, which has a capacity for 105, although she has never had problems filling the spaces. She said the need in Carbondale drove her to expand the daycare from the 47 children it served when it first opened. She said it did not take long to fill the almost 60 additional slots.

"It's like any other business," Gillespie said. "When you take up a new line of clothes or shoes or whatever, you have to let people know that you have that. And after you let them know, if your spirit and your attitude is right, you don't have any problems with that part of it."

Patricia O'Neal operates one of the few state-licensed in-home daycares in Carbondale, Pat and Pals Child Care, 1955 Stephens Rd. Licensed to watch only eight children during the day, she said she continually gets more calls, and interviews and selects those she enrolls.

O'Neal, who has been in childcare for about 25 years, said she often hears that there are not enough local daycare centers, which she said is due to lack of assistance from the government.

"They don't pay as much as what people are worth, and they just can't make their bills like the Eurma Hayes and places like that because the government just doesn't pay enough," O'Neal said. "They are paying a half to three-fourths of what you would normally charge. It's just not worth it."

Although other daycares have expanded to accommodate the growing need for childcare in the community, O'Neal said she has no plans to follow suit.

"I would have to hire someone to come in and help me, and I don't think I would make enough to cover expenses, having to pay somebody and still feeding the kids," O'Neal said. "I don't think it would be worth my trouble to expand."

Currie said there is a constant need for daycare in Carbondale, but the people with the means to run them are simply not available. Currie is planning to retire in June, but said only four people responded for her position by the deadline for application, causing the center to extend the date.

"I think the childcare and the need for centers' problem is to find dedicated people to work with young children, and the pay is cruddy." Currie said. "A starting teacher is paid $6.75 per hour, and that requires two years of college, and you can get that at McDonalds.

"More good people need to go into this, and we need to raise the rate of pay so good people will stay."