Child care placed third behind a food and beverage e-delivery program and housing in Breckenridge elected officials’ ranking of goals for 2026-28. 

New parents have reported scarcity in available and affordable child care options in Summit County for years, and it’s particularly been an issue for infants and toddlers. Breckenridge has four nonprofit child care centers: Timberline Learning Center, Little Red Schoolhouse, Carriage House and Breckenridge Montessori. Elected officials discussed whether the town could handle taking on another and how to quantify the current and future child care needs at a May 27 Breckenridge Town Council meeting.

Town manager Shannon Haynes said the council would see proposals for maintenance projects for some of the centers alongside a proposal for a Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats analysis for child care. 

She said this comprehensive analysis involving the child care centers would be done in conjunction with the shared services organization Early Childcare Options, which serves all of Summit County, which could help gauge if more centers are needed. 

Mayor Kelly Owns, who acknowledged she’s an advocate for child care and finding solutions to the current problems, pushed against the idea of analysis as proposed. 

“I really think that (Early Childhood Options) should be doing something like this, because it should be countywide,” she said. “I really don’t think that Breckenridge wants or should be financially responsible for another center.”

She said they are already committed to working with the care centers in town that have needs that must be addressed. She said she wants to prioritize supporting them and ensuring families can access child care tuition assistance through the town’s First Steps program when it comes to choosing where the town’s dollars go. 

She said she would be interested in a needs assessment of sorts for the existing Breckenridge centers to figure out how to better support them, but she said she wasn’t willing to sign the town up to be responsible for funding a Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats analysis or building another center. 

Haynes said the town could do something similar on a hyperlocal level to gauge the needs of the centers and local families. 

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“I wonder if there’s value in trying to figure out a way to flex a space as it’s needed, as an affordable way that’s not a $10 million investment in a facility,” council member Todd Rankin said.

He suggested looking into ways it could be done at the Breckenridge Recreation Center and thought there could maybe be an opportunity at the upcoming Runway Neighborhood. The Runway Neighborhood could have anywhere from 81 to 148 units all geared toward the local workforce. It is planned to include a mix of housing types, and Rankin questioned if a unit could be used for child care and then later flipped if child care needs go down. 

Council member Jay Beckerman noted how building more housing could change the need because young families with children could be occupying the units. He also pointed out issues with some of the child care facilities aging and how that’s also an issue that could need to be addressed. 

Council member Steve Gerard said he had been attending board meetings of local child care facilities and said there was frustration around forecasting future needs. 

“It’s all centered around the size of the room, from the infant on up, and how many they can get in,” he said.” And parents are signing up at every child center…, so they’re signed up two or three places.”

Owens said the list is five years in the making and that it should be functional and accurate by now.

“We know that there is a need for infant up to 3 year olds. We could build probably two or three of those facilities. So there’s no question about that. Then we know that there are (preschool spaces open) both in the school district and in the child care facilities,” she said.

Haynes said staff would return with a revised proposal.

Child care is a priority held by elected officials throughout several iterations of Breckenridge Town Council. Analyses have shown 85% of parents living in areas near Breckenridge and Blue River work. Since 2007, the town’s poured over $10 million into its child care tuition assistance program meant for local families.

While need for child care used to be across most age groups, the rollout of universal preschool at the start of the 2023-24 school year helped alleviate that for the 3- and 4-year-old age group.