School District 69 has voiced its support for the $10aDay Child Care plan.
At the board’s March 28 meeting, a motion by trustee Elaine Young calling for the board to endorse the plan was carried. The board has since sent a letter to the Minister of Education and the Minister of Finance and House Leader, asking that the government support the initiative.
The letter states “The provision of quality, affordable childcare would reduce family stress, improve the ability of families to work, increase respect for Early Childhood Educators and could contribute to significant economic activity.”
The board also voted in favour of signing the 10aday.com petition.
Board chair Even Flynn said a key of the proposed program is certification of early childhood educators.
“When we deal with some childcare programs and things like that, some of them may not be of the same quality,” she said, making the transition to kindergarten difficult for some children.
This is tracked by UBC’s Early Development Instrument, which determines the vulnerability of children at age five.
The vulnerabilities are split up into five categories: physical health and well-being, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive development, and communication skills and general knowledge.
Across the province, 32.2 per cent of children are vulnerable in one or more of these categories, according to the UBC study. In SD 69, 37 per cent are in one or more vulnerable categories.
These are numbers the school board pays careful attention to, said Flynn.
“There are clear determinants showing kids are coming into kindergarten with some strengths and some weaknesses,” she said.
“I think that this initiative and our promoting and supporting this initiative could possibly stabilize (those strengths and weaknesses), because we will have early childhood-certified educators as part of the delivery of learning and play and stuff for our younger kids before they get to school.”
A spokesperson for the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C., Sharon Gregson, appeared before Qualicum Beach council in late February to highlight the need for quality affordable childcare. Gregson said quality child care is unaffordable for most families, and highlighted the $10aDay Child Care Campaign.
The campaign would provide $10 for full-time care, $7 for part-time care, with no parent fee for families with an annual income under $40,000. The $10aDay Child Care Campaign grew out of a partnership between the Early Childhood Educators of B.C. and the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C. to create the community plan for a public system of integrated early care and learning.
Qualicum Beach council has since passed a motion to endorse the plan, and to send a letter of support to the local MLA and MP.
— With files from Lauren Collins