New details of $25/day daycare revealed, as Furey promises it will be 'first step' for sector

There are a few new detailssurrounding the rollout of $25-a-day daycare in Newfoundland and Labrador, as the provincial government gave a shortupdate to its plan Wednesday morning, while also promising more improvements to the sector.

Cheaper daycare will come to be through the existing government subsidy system of operating grants for regulated daycare centres, a grant system that will expandto include regulated family day homes.

About 70per cent of regulated centres currently avail of operating grants, Education Minister Tom Osborne said, adding he hopes more centres and day homes register for the system to boost the number of $25-a-day spots.

"The operating grant program has been a key tool in government's efforts to establishing more affordable child care," Osborne said.

Funnelling the new money into the old system makes it easy to implement by the start date of Jan.1, he said.

The grant program gives participating centres money in order for them to be able to offer child-care rates that vary from $44 a day for infants to $30 a day for preschoolers.

It's unclear whether the increasedoperating grants will fully cover the gap between what some other centres and homes charge, but Osborne did allay the fears of any parent or guardian currently paying less than $25 a day via asubsidy that covers most or all child-care costs for low-income families.

"This will not change," he said.

Consultations to include unlicensed operators

The Liberal government and Premier Andrew Furey have repeatedlytouted the child-care plan as a boost to the economy and working parents.

However, early childhood education advocates and people working in the industry have called for an overhaul to the entire system,saying the overall system isbroken and affordability is only one issue at stake.

Critics say there are too fewchild-care spaces overall, and the quality of care varies widely.There are about 8,100 regulated spaces in Newfoundland and Labrador, with an untold amount of unregulated spaces that exist outside government control and therefore cannot avail of the grants.

"Whenever any system is broken, you have to start somewhere. And this is a first step in reinvigorating a bigger, bolder idea with respect to child care," Furey told reporters Wednesday.

Wednesday's event was held outsideNew Dimensions Child Care Centre in St. John's.Janice Adams, the volunteer chair of its board of directors, applauded the new measure, saying her centre is on board, but adding demand is high and the centre's six infant spaces could be filled "three times over."

"I'm looking forward to a time when itis universal child care. Becausethere's still many, many people that can't access it," she said.

• Red tape a big barrier to boosting child-care spaces in N.L., say unlicensed providers

• $25-a-day daycare applauded as good first step, but more needed to fix 'a broken system': advocates

Osborne said his department is planning talks in the new year between bureaucrats and those who work in child care, both in the regulated and unregulated sectors, to see what more can be done, particularly in helping more daycares move into the regulated system.

"We've been dialoguing with some of them already and understand some of the barriers. If there is red tape that's unnecessary, if we can eliminate some of those barriers, that's what we intend to do," Osborne said.

The Liberals' plan is to fund 8,000 $25-a-day spaces, although as the operating grant system is entirely voluntary, it's unclearhow many child-care operators will avail of it.

The plan is set to roll out in January and cost between $12 million and $15 millionannually, depending on uptake, with $3 million budgeted for the first quarter of 2021.

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