Private daycares want piece of funding

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This article was published 12/05/2023 (849 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Private child care centres say they’re being unfairly shut out of provincial funds meant to benefit all Manitoba families.

As not-for-profit hubs that receive provincial operating grant funding have celebrated recent wins — including implementation of $10-a-day child care, boosted starting wages for early childhood educators and assistants, and the promise of 23,000 new full-time regulated child care spaces by March 2026 — the few privately-owned spots in Manitoba have been left to fend for themselves, said Megan Turner, founder of Making Roots Montessori Centre Inc.

“I think it’s such a misconception that private ownership in child care means that we are sitting high on the hog in some faraway place, watching things transpire.”

In Manitoba, not-for-profit centres are reaching $10/day by receiving additional funding from the province meant to offset the reduction in parent fees.

To not give for-profits — which make up three per cent of the market in Manitoba — the same chance, Turner said, makes it more difficult for them to open new spots, lower child care costs and keep staff on board.

In comparison, both public and private licensed child care centres are eligible to receive affordability grants in Alberta. That province uses a cost-control framework to provide public funds to private centres, on the condition the funds are used to expand child care spots and the centres commit to $10/day fees by 2025.

“It’s tax dollars that has been earmarked for children and families. Who are we to decide which children or families are eligible?” Turner said.

“I often hear, well, just raise the tuition. In today’s economy, could you imagine going to 50 parents and saying, ‘You’re going to have to pay extra money so that we can afford to have an inclusion worker or that we can afford to pay the wage grid that has just been magically come to be by the province without any representation from private centres?’”

The recently-developed early learning and child care wage grid was developed by the provincial and federal governments to provide a framework of staff wages operators should work toward to. Starting-point hourly wages currently range from $16.05 for child care assistants with a 40-hour training course to $33.75 for director positions with a post-secondary degree and specialized credentials.

At Making Roots, fees range between $995 to $1,393 per month, which comes directly from parents.

“If you break down the fee that we charge per day, and you were to go to a funded centre and say, ‘Does this represent what it actually cost to run that space, to staff that space, to care for that child?’ I think you’ll find we’re not far off,” Turner said. “The difference is parents are paying for it out of their pocket.”

A petition penned by Prep Montessori Daycare executive director Demetra Hajidiacos calling on the provincial government to widen eligibility for funding to include private centres has more than 200 signatures.

The Manitoba Child Care Association, which offers membership to all licensed centres, is less open to the idea.

“The Manitoba legislation, which MCCA has always championed, does not allow for public funds to support for-profit operators,” executive director Jodie Kehl said.

“Considering the principles and conditions under the Canada-wide plan are to further expansion being in the public and not-for-profit sectors, MCCA would not be suggesting or advocating for a change in the legislation.”

Early Childhood Learning Minister Wayne Ewasko said while the provincial government was “working with a variety of partners to expand the early learning and child care system province-wide,” for-profit centres have options.

“While for-profit child care centres do not receive operating grant funding, they are able to set parent fees based on their operational needs and these can be greater than the maximum regulated fees in the legislation. If the for-profit centre accepts subsidized families, eligible families can receive these supports to reduce the cost of care,” Ewasko said in an email.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca