A Slayton child care center on the brink of closure received a financial lifeline this week.
The Murray County Board of Commissioners approved as much as $500,000 in loans on Tuesday to Wonder World Preschool — the only licensed child care center in the county in Minnesota’s southwest corner.
Supporters say the decision will help Wonder World, which faces eviction from St. Ann’s Catholic Church in July and must raise capital to construct a new facility — estimated to cost about $2.1 million — before time runs out.
A lack of child care is the single biggest economic factor holding back rural Minnesota, according to reports from the Center for Rural Policy and Development. Greater Minnesota has half the child care capacity it had in 2000, a 2022 report from the center shows.
Rural child care centers often struggle to find staff and funding, leading to substantial waiting lists and families driving long distances to drop off their young ones. Low wages and rising costs have led to child care centers shuttering in recent years in both rural and urban areas, including in Duluth and Rochester.
Tuesday’s vote marked another twist in what supporters of Wonder World have said has been a roller coaster of emotions over the last year and a half.
Staff at Wonder World, which serves about 50 preschoolers, learned in June 2024 that the church, the child care center’s landlord, would not renew its lease.
In October 2024, the county’s Board of Commissioners voted 3-2 to approve a $750,000 loan for Wonder World. But a few months later, citing a procedural error in the motion’s wording, the board rescinded the loan.
