Sask. daycare warns funding changes could reduce part-time care

Concerns are growing over upcoming changes to Saskatchewan’s $10 a day child-care program. Stacey Hein reports.

Upcoming changes to Saskatchewan’s $10-a-day child-care funding model could lead some daycares to reduce part-time and casual care, with one daycare operator saying the shift may make those spaces too costly to maintain.

The director of Dalmeny Daycare, Darice Anderson, said her facility has 35 licensed spaces, but has been able to support 17 additional families through part-time care, with multiple children sharing the same space at different times, including children with alternating kindergarten days.

“That’s something we’re just financially not going to be able to help families out with any longer,” Anderson told CTV News Wednesday.

Currently, providers receive funding for each child enrolled. Starting July 1, funding will be limited to one grant per licensed space, regardless of how many children use that space. Anderson said that could make part-time and drop-in care too costly because additional part-time children would no longer be subsidized, while fees would remain capped at $10 a day under the program.

“If you do the math on $10 a day, five kids is $50. Somebody working as a level one in early learning is making about $160 a day. So that’s a $90 a day loss just to help five families,” she said.

• Get the latest news from Saskatoon, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App

Anderson said with waitlists already stretched, losing part-time spaces could make it more challenging for families to find care.

“Our center has over 100 children on the waitlist,” she said.

She said families from Saskatoon have been applying to Dalmeny Daycare because waitlists in the city are so full.

“They’re willing to drive a 20-minute drive out of town to drop their children off, to go back into the city to work,” she said.

In a statement, the Ministry of Education said providers are not required to stop accepting part-time or drop-in children and that the model ensures each licensed space is funded fully once, even when used by more than one child.

“The province will not provide duplicate grants for the same licensed space, ensuring fairness across providers and supporting sustainability within available funding,” the statement read.

Education Minister Everett Hindley said last week funding limitations are one reason behind the July 1 changes and urged the federal government to provide more support for the program.

“There does need to be a more substantial amount of federal dollars coming into this program in order to maintain it going forward,” Hindley told reporters last Thursday.

CTV News reached out to the federal government for comment but did not hear back by deadline.

Meanwhile, Anderson said she hopes the province reconsiders the funding changes.

“I’m hoping that the government rethinks things and puts a freeze on it for July 1 to get us a correct funding model,” she said.