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Setting Up Business Wasn't Child's Play

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By LAURA FRAZIER

lfrazier@tampatrib.com

Published: October 22, 2008

VALRICO - Rene Vojnovic and her husband, Nick, decided last year to convert an investment property they purchased in 2001 into a permanent home for Sprouts early learning center.

The lease was up for tenants renting the house on Hummingbird Lane, and the property was already zoned for commercial use. Aside from a few renovations, the couple assumed the rest would be child's play. Not quite.

Rene Vojnovic said she applied to the county for business licensing and was told everything appeared to be in order. She discontinued classes held at Music Showcase and got busy renovating the house and planning her grand reopening.

A month later, days before she was ready to open, Vojnovic said she received a distressing call from the county. Although she did not operate a drop-off day care, her business fell into the county's child care classification, which requires a director to have college certification and state credentials. She had neither.

Vojnovic spent the summer taking online college courses and attending classes to obtain credentials from the Florida Department of Children & Families.

She said a lack of communication between county staff members and a licensing process that fails to provide clear-cut, step-by-step instructions was at times "an uphill battle." Her grand opening was delayed a year, but now she looks on the bright side.

"As a result, I'm qualified as a child care director and staff member," she said. "My core program is for mothers and their children, but now we can also offer a Mother's Day Out and drop-off art programs for older children."

Laura Frazier can be reached at (813) 657-4523.

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