Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Toronto: A Toronto District School Board trustee says a proposal to end a grant that helps fund childcare centres in schools will ultimately make daycare more expensive for already cash-strapped parents.
In order to help fill a $91 million shortfall in the operating budget for 2017, staff are proposing to end a 20-year-old agreement that subsidizes the costs of operating 350 child-care centres in public schools.
The subsidy currently helps all four Toronto school boards cover the cost of heating, maintenance and other operating costs for childcare spaces.
The move, which would go into effect in July, would save the city $1.13 million in 2017 and $2.26 million in 2018. It would, however, end up costing parents an extra $350 a year per child.
“If they move in the direction they are proposing the cut will end up being passed on to parents in the forms of increased fees. We don’t think parents can afford that and we don’t think our childcare centres can afford the instability that is going to create,” Ward 15 TDSB Trustee Jennifer Story told reporters on Thursday. “We are going to be joining together with childcare centres and parents to call on city councillors to vote to reverse this proposal.”
TDSB could raise rent charged to city
Story said that TDSB trustees are “sympathetic to the challenges the city faces” but can’t support any proposal that would increase the cost of daycare.
Story also hinted that if the city goes through with the change, the TDSB could in turn increase the rent it charges the municipality for school childcare centre spaces.
“Right now we actually offer childcare spaces to the city at discounted rates. We charge them $6.50 per square foot when normal lease rates are $11 per square foot. If we were to raise the rate the city could actually end up paying more for childcare because all the spots in our system where the spots are subsidized the city would pay full cost. I think that should be an important consideration,” Story said.
The cost of childcare at city-run facilities is about $1,900 a month for toddlers (18 to 30 months) and $1,400 a month for pre-school aged children.
Speaking with CP24 later on Thursday, Story said that the cost has gotten so out of control that woman are making the “very difficult choice of opting out of the workforce” simply because they don’t make enough money to pay for it.
“Regardless of how we got there the reality is that parents are paying more for childcare than they are for their mortgage. Don’t we want people to be able to put their kids into safe, well-maintained spaces for childcare?” she asked.
A report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives in 2015 found that Toronto has the highest childcare fees in the country.
