MARSHALL — The future of the Marshall Area Childcare Center is looking more solid after Marshall School Board members approved an agreement with a local childcare business to privatize the center.

The agreement, which went before the school board on Monday, sets a target date of July 1 for Canoga Park Childcare to take over operations of MACC.

Canoga Park currently operates two child care centers in Marshall. The business offered a proposal for MACC in April as community members were working with the school district to keep MACC open.

“Conversations have gone really well with Canoga Park Childcare,” said MPS Superintendent Jeremy Williams. Hopefully the arrangement will help meet local needs for child care, he said.

MACC, which is currently run by the school district in space at the MATEC location on South Second Street, operated at a loss for the past several years. In January, school board members discussed closing the facility, but a group of local residents said doing so would only make the child care shortage in the area worse.

School board members unanimously approved a lease agreement with Canoga Park.

Under the agreement, the school district would start sub-leasing the day care space and an outdoor play area to Canoga Park Childcare starting July 1. The lease agreement is for one year, and is renewable with written consent from both the school district and Canoga Park Childcare on a month-by-month basis until December 2023.

Under the agreement, rent for Canoga Park Childcare would be $1,000 a month. Canoga Park would also pay $5,000 to the school district to purchase the day care center’s existing furniture and equipment.

The agreement also laid out other terms for how Canoga Park would take over operations of MACC, including licensing and how the transition would affect current staff. MPS will continue to operate the day care under its own license until Sept. 1, or until Canoga Park has hired staff and obtained licensing, whichever comes first, the agreement said.

Current MACC staff are employees of the school district, and the agreement said they may have seniority rights for open positions they are qualified for within MPS. However, if MACC staff wish to apply for a job with Canoga Park, the school district will share information on employment opportunities with them. Current MPS employees would need to resign from their positions with the school district in order to take a job with Canoga Park Childcare.

The school district would also share enrollment information for Canoga Park Childcare with families currently enrolled at MACC, the agreement said.