Over the last few years, there have been major cuts to Ontario’s child care funding budget. This is a trend that has been in effect for a while now. In 2019-2020 The provincial budget promised a $1.7 billion investment “to help families access child care and early years programs to support them while they earn a living.” The budget also brought change with it in the form of looser child care regulations and a child care tax credit. Some Ontario cities like Toronto even have a Assessment for Quality Improvement (AQI) program that holds child care programs to a regulated standard (beyond the Child Care and Early Years Act). Despite these changes made to benefit those in child care, it may not be enough to support those in the industry. Meanwhile, a Toronto city manager estimated nearly $85 million in immediate child-care funding cuts to the City of Toronto alone.
Other cities and municipalities have made similar cuts to their child care budget, this is a troubling trend that seems to go under the radar of many. I spoke to a Fanshawe Student studying Early Childhood Education Kal Brown about their thoughts on the issue.
“Ontario child care costs are extremely high and the average family cannot afford up to $2000 a week per child for private care that’s not home based. Cutting the costs to only $10 a day would make it out to be approximately $50 weekly which is way more affordable. Staff are very underpaid for the amounts the center’s are bringing in monthly. Things need to change in order for private care to continue. ”
Kal and many other aspiring early childhood educators hope to see increases made to the childcare funding budget, here in Ontario and beyond.
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