After our minimal expenses, your tuition dollars go directly to supporting your teachers' livelihoods.
Social responsibility is important to us, and we want you to know where your money is going. We recognize that our business/tax structure is as a “for-profit” LLC, and we want to be engaged in a process of being accountable with our privilege & power as business-owners. We aim to compensate teachers and administrators fairly for their work, but there is no profit to be made in childcare or outdoor education. Should we ever make more than we need to cover living wages for teachers & administrators, we will adjust the cost of tuition and re-invest in scholarships.
Expenses & Wages
We keep our expenses low: they include liability insurance, taxes, annual report filing with the state, website domain & email addresses, professional development & first aid training, tools/books/supplies for students, and most importantly, wages for teaching & administrative work. For data on living wages, see the Living Wage Coalition of Transylvania County, Living Wage Calculator from MIT, and Economic Policy Institute's Family Budget Calculator. We recognize our privilege in being able to sustain this program as it gets going.
Social Services & Support for our Program
We are grateful for the Prosperity Wage Supplement Program from Smart Start of Transylvania County to support part-day preschool teachers at the end of the 2023-24 school year, as well as social services including the recent Medicaid Expansion. Our Gear Library was funded with a grant through Smart Start of Transylvania County. Our internet access was provided by the Affordable Connectivity Program, which has now ended. Social & government support like this is invaluable to making our program sustainable and accessible.
Industry Standards
Early childhood education, as the industry stands today, is both cost-prohibitive for many families and often not a livable income for the incredibly valuable and well-qualified teachers. The outdoor industry also has a low pay standard. We strive towards both accessibility for families and supporting teachers’ livelihoods & professional development (including our own) so that we can show up well-resourced for your children. We recognize that we may need to get the program more financially sustainable before we're able to offer more financial accessibility for families.
For details, see the key findings on page 3 of this Community Needs Assessment from Smart Start for Henderson County.
The Need for Larger Social Change
GetSet Transylvania and Smart Start of Transylvania are both organizations working to support the challenges for early childhood in our county. All of this being said, we are not always able to reach these goals, and we recognize that larger social change is needed to support this shift.
If you’d like to support this work, we encourage you to get involved with GetSet and Smart Start, other local organizations like The Living Wage Coalition of Transylvania County and Through the Trees, and to engage with local politics through organizations like Down Home North Carolina.
Expenses & Wages
We keep our expenses low: they include liability insurance, taxes, annual report filing with the state, website domain & email addresses, professional development & first aid training, tools/books/supplies for students, and most importantly, wages for teaching & administrative work. For data on living wages, see the Living Wage Coalition of Transylvania County, Living Wage Calculator from MIT, and Economic Policy Institute's Family Budget Calculator. We recognize our privilege in being able to sustain this program as it gets going.
Social Services & Support for our Program
We are grateful for the Prosperity Wage Supplement Program from Smart Start of Transylvania County to support part-day preschool teachers at the end of the 2023-24 school year, as well as social services including the recent Medicaid Expansion. Our Gear Library was funded with a grant through Smart Start of Transylvania County. Our internet access was provided by the Affordable Connectivity Program, which has now ended. Social & government support like this is invaluable to making our program sustainable and accessible.
Industry Standards
Early childhood education, as the industry stands today, is both cost-prohibitive for many families and often not a livable income for the incredibly valuable and well-qualified teachers. The outdoor industry also has a low pay standard. We strive towards both accessibility for families and supporting teachers’ livelihoods & professional development (including our own) so that we can show up well-resourced for your children. We recognize that we may need to get the program more financially sustainable before we're able to offer more financial accessibility for families.
For details, see the key findings on page 3 of this Community Needs Assessment from Smart Start for Henderson County.
The Need for Larger Social Change
GetSet Transylvania and Smart Start of Transylvania are both organizations working to support the challenges for early childhood in our county. All of this being said, we are not always able to reach these goals, and we recognize that larger social change is needed to support this shift.
If you’d like to support this work, we encourage you to get involved with GetSet and Smart Start, other local organizations like The Living Wage Coalition of Transylvania County and Through the Trees, and to engage with local politics through organizations like Down Home North Carolina.