It doesn’t take long for some people to figure out retirement isn’t for them. For Donna Lambkin, it was exactly 31 days.

A state Teacher of the Year in Tennessee who taught children for 35 years in the Volunteer State, Lambkin retired on June 30. One month later, she was teaching pre-kindergarten classes at Precious Possessions Preschool & Daycare.

“We snatched her up before anyone else could get her,” said Holly Ridley, who with her husband Mark owns and manages the facility on Cleveland Highway. “We have four ‘Pre-K’ classes and they’re all free, and all our teachers are certified — just like Donna.”

“I like teaching Pre-K,” Lambkin said. “It’s like kindergarten used to be before No Child Left Behind required more academics and testing. ”

Precious Possessions employs 25 to 30, most full time, to watch over the 134 children who are enrolled in several age-group classes and nurseries. It earned a Center of Distinction award this summer from the Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning for exceeding standards of quality required by the state.

Whitfield-Dalton Day Care, a nonprofit facility that is also a Center of Distinction recipient this year, employs 40 primarily full-time individuals to help serve more than 200 children each day. The day care is funded through Bright from the Start, the United Way, lottery proceeds, parent fees and private donations, and houses both Pre-K and Head Start classes.

A study conducted by Bright from the Start, in conjunction with the University of Georgia and Georgia State University, found there are more than 10,000 licensed or regulated for-profit and not-for-profit early care and education centers in the state. The total annual gross receipts of the industry was estimated at $2.4 billion. Additional economic activity associated with the industry generates an additional $1.7 billion to the state’s economy, according to the study.

“This study has been ongoing," said Debbie Mann Rector, executive director for 33 years of Whitfield County-Dalton Day Care Center, which is nationally accredited by the National Academy of Early Childhood Programs. “It shows that the child care industry does have an impact on the economy. Also, sometimes people don’t realize what an impact a quality child care program is making with the young children that we serve.  Research shows quality early learning in children, along with working with the families will help children be more successful in school and, hopefully, more productive citizens. The parents we serve, whether working or going to school, have a peace of mind knowing that they are leaving their children in a quality program. This in turn makes them a better employee. It’s a win-win situation. A Perry Preschool Study shows that for every $1 spent on high-quality child care, taxpayers reap a return of $7.16.”

Rector said many of the parents utilize their child care services to attend school.

Dixie Kinard, a local Realtor who serves on Bright from the Start’s board of directors for the 9h Congressional District, said state requirements govern physical building and room size, nutrition and food, and programs and lessons, and mandate record-keeping on social and educational development. Personnel working at the centers also must pass educational requirements.

“The state has recently required more educational training for personnel and encourages everyone employed to continue to update their certification and further their education,” Kinard said. “The board feels like this will raise our standards and hopefully, our national ratings.”

Mary Thelma Norris is the director of Friendship House, a United Way agency that charges families based on their ability to pay. The agency serves 123 kids each day and employs 30 people.

“We are definitely a part of economic development,” said Norris, who has been director of the facility on South Hamilton Street for 23 years. “When people move into an area they’re looking for excellent education, quality health care and quality housing. We have to provide high-quality day care because we’re creating the product for the schools and underpinning the education system. The parents can go to the work force, school or to professional development of their own.”

Norris said employees of the nationally-accredited program also benefit.

“They can continue to go to school,” she said. “We have to have 15 (credit) hours per year per employee, and that’s just the basic training. We also have full-time college students who work part time, and part-time college students who work full time.”