Enrollment

Open: Mon - Fri 7:30am - 5:30pm
We don't open before 7:30.
If you arrive early, please wait. Thank you.

Ages: 2 years through kindergarten.

PLEASE READ our Parent Handbook to make sure you agree with our policies before enrolling. We need your child's enrollment forms (printable from the green button below) & immunization record before they can begin with us, per state requirements.

Handbook & Enrollment Forms

Monthly Tuition Rates

Monday-Friday
7:30-4:30 $1325 mo
7:30-5:30 $1575 mo

4 Day: Tues - Thurs
7:30-4:30 $1150 mo
7:30-5:30 $1275 mo

3 Day: Tues - Thurs
7:30-12:30 $550 mo.
7:30-4:30 $900 mo.
7:30-5:30 $1000 mo

*We accept ERDC assistance
and they cover all or most of the tuition! (Some families have a very small co-pay.)

-There are no registration/annual fees.

-Tuition prices typically increase 3-5% every September 1st.

-Tuition is due by the 3rd.

-Late pick-up fee is $1 per minute.

-Our wait list is FREE. To hold a spot, there's a non-refundable deposit of $550, reducing the 1st month's tuition by that amount.

-Sibling discount: $100 off (only on the Mon-Fri full-time rate) if paying out of pocket.

The following image shows what DHS/ERDC pays programs per child.
It's increasing January 1, 2024! (See 2nd photo.)

For single parents, or low-income married couples, the Department of Human Services offers assistance to pay for child care. There is help available! Please find out if you're eligible. (Reapplying, your income can be even higher than what's shown here! Please speak with your case worker about your eligibility.)

Tuition covers quality organic meals and snacks, ethical work wages and benefits, keeping our group ratios small for the best well-being of the children, eco-friendly materials, monthly art and education supplies, our music teacher, our annual licensing and training costs, business and employee insurances and taxes, and more.

Many parents are often heard (or seen on the internet) expressing the sentiment,
"WHY is child care so expensive?! How am I supposed to afford that?"
Families deserve to know their money is tuition well-spent.
Here's an article on the breakdown of hidden costs of which parents are usually unaware:
WHY CHILD CARE IS "SO EXPENSIVE"

Happy Steps Preschool Menu

As of October 2022, for the first time in 20 years our formerly vegetarian menu now offers chicken and turkey.
We are more than happy to provide vegetarian meals to anyone who needs them! Just let us know.

Our current menu is gluten-free.
Due to other severe food allergies present, we don't allow outside food. Thank you!

We update our menu every few months to reflect the interests of the group. For example, if most of the children dislike beans, we may eat eggs or low-sugar yogurt more often. If nobody likes oranges, we provide a good alternative.
Most of our food is usually organic and/or non-gmo. We also prefer certified humane eggs, local yogurt and cheese, and organic milk.

We serve, based on the USDA Food Program:

Breakfast - a grain food (like bread, oatmeal, etc.), fruit, and glass of organic milk (or soy milk, if parents prefer). We also often add an additional protein with breakfast because it helps children have a better start to their day: egg, yogurt, peanut butter.
{We ask parents to please avoid starting their child's school day with cane sugar, whenever possible.}
Lunch - a protein, grain food (quinoa/bread/tortilla), a vegetable, a fruit, and milk.
P.M. snack of two different food components - like yogurt and bananas or celery and peanut butter, and a glass (or more) of water.

Serving amounts on the USDA Food Program are determined by the age of the child.
Children are welcome to ask for more if they're still hungry!
We limit junk food and desserts here (typically to small amounts of fun treats and snacks on birthday parties and holiday celebrations), and attempt to provide mainly only wholesome and healthy foods, on a daily basis.
Our menu is low-sodium and low-sugar.
After 20 years of being vegetarian, our menu now incorporates a little chicken and turkey. We are happy to accommodate vegetarian families who don't eat poultry!
Our menu is posted on the parent wall, on our Facebook page, and is usually updated here. I will also print out a copy, by request, for anyone interested in having one at home.

Our closed days are included in your child’s monthly tuition so staff can have paid days off - it increases the quality of our program and helps us avoid the high turnover rate that is so common in child care centers. Your tuition also holds the spot for your child in our program.
Thank you.

We are closed on all federal/observed holidays:
New Year's Day
MLK Jr Day
President's Day
Memorial Day
Juneteenth
Independence Day
Labor Day
Indigenous Peoples’ Day
Veteran’s Day
Thanksgiving & Black Friday
Christmas

We are closed for Winter Break from December 22nd - January 1st.
We are closed for Spring Break the last Thurs & Fri of March.
We are closed for Summer Break from July 1st - July 12th. (Begins 2024.)
(July is a 4.25 or 4.5 week month. We're closed for a week and a half -some of that falling on the weekend- and open for the other 3 weeks!)