Everett Community College Early Learning Center to close; leaders refuse comment

Story updated to reflect new developments.

Community, village, and family will be lost with the permanent closure of Everett’s Community College Early Learning Center June 25. Things are looking a little better at Edmonds College.

“The Early Learning Center on campus, along with our five other Head Start and Early Head Start programs in Snohomish County, are accepting applications and remain open,” said Edmonds College spokesperson Brian Tom. “We cannot speculate about future funding as that would be premature. However, we continue to monitor the situation closely.”

The closure, of course, has human costs. “They’re heartbroken,” Samantha Sommerman, a mother of two kids at the Early Learning Center (ELC), said about her children. “Can I stay with teacher Michelle? I love her,” Sommerman’s four-year-old son asked her after learning about the closure. “And my answer was no.” 

Her husband, Lucas Barnes, will have to drop out of his IT training program and work full-time to help pay for the education of their two young children. 

Opened in 1990 to help student-parents or low-income families receive quality and affordable child care, the learning center currently serves 80 students from infants to age 5, with 63 of those considered low-income, according to director Rachelle Refling. 

The ELC is considered a model early learning center in Washington, earning National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) accreditation in 2018, and reaccreditation in 2023. The ELC also earned a Level 5 Early Achievers rating – the highest in Washington state – in November. 

The learning center closure means all staff and faculty to be laid. The college cites financial difficulties as the reason for the closure. On June 21, The Herald, citing court documents, reported that administrative staff at Everett Community College knew in March they were going to close the college’s Early Learning Center, possibly two months before they notified parents and staff.

On June 5, Sommerman filed a lawsuit on behalf of a parent at the Early Learning Center, the Herald reported. It alleges the board and administrative staff at the college violated the state’s Open Public Meetings Act when the administration closed the center without a board vote or opportunity for public comment.

On Wednesday, a Snohomish County Superior Court judge ruled that the college's board must comply with the act.

Everett Community College (EvCC) projects a deficit of at least $300,000 annually beginning next fiscal year (2025-2026), according to EvCC’s Vice President of Instruction, Cathy Leaker. 

Historically, the ELC has been funded through a combination of grants and other sources. “The challenge of ensuring fiscal sustainability is heightened because the grant sources and emergency stabilization funds that have maintained the ELC’s operations over the past few years are either decreasing or ending altogether,” Leaker said. 

The Everett Community College leadership team declined to be interviewed for this story. It has also refused to speak to other media outlets. 

In 2021, similar financial struggles nearly closed the Early Learning Center. According to Refling, clear information about those financial difficulties was never shared. Following a public outcry by parents, staff, local legislators, and the Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE) union, the ELC was able to remain open.

Before 2021, the administrative costs were on the college's operating budget. After 2021, those costs were from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and Puget Sound Taxpayer Accountability Account (PSTTA) funds, which the college received from Snohomish County, Refling said. 

Between June 2022 and September 2024, Snohomish County provided $249,520 of ARPA dollars and gave hundreds of thousands of dollars annually through PSTAA, leading to a 2024-2025 total allocation for the college and amounting to $310,829, according to The Herald. 

The City of Everett also contributed  $150,000 of ARPA funds towards the ELC between October 2024 and September 2025. 

The ELC’s affordable child care allowed Sommerman’s husband, Barnes, to change careers and work part-time while pursuing information technology training at the college, with Sommerman acting as the primary breadwinner for their family.

Sommerman leaves her children at the ELC, knowing they are safe and in the trusted care of staff.

“If there's something nagging at you about what's going on in the classroom, they invite you to come watch. That builds trust,” she said, adding that she’s also seen major improvements in her children’s conflict resolution and education. 

 Writing his name

Earlier this year, Sommerman’s son was unable to write his name. “Now he not only can write his name, he can write other letters and words,” she said. Her son also comes home talking about different music sound patterns and using techniques he learned at ELC to manage his emotions, such as deep breathing or counting to four. 

Sommerman and Barnes say they feel frustrated and betrayed. “We’re going to pay significantly more money for lower quality child care,” Sommerman said. “We’re going to need to work more to pay more to get this lower quality of care.” 

Many other families who rely upon the ELC are facing similar realities. Families and staff were notified of the ELC’s closure on May 8, giving them little time to find alternative child care options or employment before summer. 

Tamra Hill, a mentor teacher at ELC, felt demoralized by the college’s lack of collaboration with staff and parents in making this decision.  “My first reaction was, seriously? We’re doing this again?” Hill said after learning about the closure. “It’s really a slap in the face. It's recognizing that your employer does not value the work that you do, and does not see you as a priority.”

Hill has been at ELC for almost 15 years, beginning in a part-time position and transitioning into a more involved and full-time role after falling in love with the ELC community. 

“I know every single child in this building. We learn the family names, and not just the parents, but the cousins and the grandparents, and who's bringing them in.” Hill describes the ELC staff, parents, and children as a family. 

Sommerman agrees.

“They're not just there to watch your kids from eight to five. They look at the kid as part of the family and the family as part of the community, and take a holistic approach that I think is beautiful,” she said. 

ELC is not solely focused on child learning but also on providing support to parents and families, understanding that the success of parents is closely related to the success of children. 

“We have a family support staff. They do family events, they do parenting workshops. We have a food pantry here that they can always access,” Hill said. 

The food pantry offers more than just basic canned goods or pasta. It also has soap, diapers, and tampons for families to access.  At the end of the month, these resources will no longer be available to families, and ELC’s 24 staff members will be unemployed.

“June is not the time to be looking for an education job,” Hill said. 

While the ELC typically stays open throughout the summer, most other schools are on summer break and do not hire teaching positions during this time. 

Hill plans to take some vacation time to plan her next steps and feels fortunate to have the support to do so. “I feel angry for the people I know that don't have the advantages I do, that aren't going to be okay,” she said.

Hill has urges community members to contact their representatives and legislators to highlight the importance of the ELC for early education and family success, and advocate for keeping the Everett Community College Early Learning Center open.

Ashlyn Bowman is a student in the University of Washington News Lab. She wrote this story for Beacon Publishing.