FOND DU LAC (NBC 26) — Mary Linsmeier Schools, a decades-old child care center with operations in Fond du Lac, will merge with Ebenezer Child Care Centers out of Milwaukee to secure the non-profit's future.
- Ebenezer Child Care Centers merged with Mary Linsmeier Schools on Feb. 3.
- Dave Linsmeier took over the non-profit after his mother died, but he is now retiring.
- Beverly Anderson, executive director of Ebenezer Child Care, says she does not plan on increasing costs for families, and Mary Linsmeier operations and staff will stay the same.
Dave Linsmeier grew up around child care. His mother, Mary, started a child care center in the early '60s.
“It was a time when all this new research was coming out about how much kids learn at an early age,” he says.
Dave took over the business in 1988, which now includes four locations across Wisconsin- Brookfield, Fond du Lac, South Milwaukee, and Waukesha.
This year, the Linsmeier family is saying goodbye.
“As I was looking at retiring, I wanted to make sure things would continue,” Dave says. “It’s a non-profit, so it’s not something I own or anything, and they’re a non-profit, so it made a lot of sense to merge with them.”
Dave says he’s been friends with Beverly Anderson, executive director of Ebenezer Child Care Centers, for many years. The two agreed a merger would be beneficial for both non-profits.
“The essentials will not change, our staff is not changing, but what will change is there will be even more resources available to the staff here and the parents and families,” Dave says.
Anderson says she was eager to take over the Mary Linsmeier legacy.
“To be able to keep these centers operating for families and for our staff is really exciting,” she says.
The merger comes at a time when state funding for Wisconsin child care is at a crossroads.
Child Care Counts, the pandemic-era program that helped child care centers keep costs affordable for families, will expire in June.
“The support from Child Care Counts has been a game changer for child care,” Dave says.
In Governor Tony Evers’ proposed 2025-27 budget, the necessary funding to continue the Child Care Counts Program is included. However, the budget has yet to be approved.
“If it does not, there’s going to be probably a lot of child care centers that will need to raise their tuition significantly,” Dave says.
Anderson and Dave say the profit margins in a child care center, even for a non-profit, are very thin. If there is no continued state funding, Dave says the cost to pay employees a livable wage will fall on families.
The cost for staffing, Dave says, accounts for 60-80% of the center’s budget.
“The biggest expense is staffing,” he says. “With losing those funding, we’ll need to raise [tuition]. But parents are already stretched with child care costs.”
According to the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families, the annual cost of childcare is more than $11,900.
“Very expensive, it definitely has to be a two family income household,” Kimberly Krentz, a single mother of three children, says.
After struggling to find child care for her youngest kid, Krentz took a job at Mary Linsmeier Schools in Fond du Lac.
“Before I started working here, it was very hard to find child care,” she says.
Dave says he hopes the merger will help parents like Krentz continue to have care for their children.
“I’m looking forward to how this location here is going to continue and get additional resources,” he says. “Ebenezer treats their people very very well.”
