Feds cut $455 million from early learning
Golden Star
By Mardy Bacigalupo, Star Editor
Jan 17 2007
EXCERPT

Parents and children accessing the Golden chapter of Child Care Resource and Referral (CCRR) will be left out in the cold next fall, possibly sooner. ...

On Friday, Jan. 5, Linda Reid, British Columbia's Minister of State for Child Care announced funding for the CCRR would be reduced as of April 1.

Returning to 'pre-Early Learning and Child Care agreement' levels, a reduction of about $6 million represents a 35 per cent cut in the Golden CCRR's budget. Programs and services currently offered will be severely reduced.

Come October, funding will be further reduced, which Program Co-ordinator Renee Balango says will force the Golden centre to shut its doors for good.

"Our service is being maintained until March 31, (the end of CCRR's fiscal year) and then we are going to be undergoing severe cuts or closure by April 1 and definite closure by Oct. 1," Belango explains. "We knew with the ELCC cuts we would be undergoing some changes; we had no idea that this was going to happen. The province has made huge investments (in CCRR) over the last two years into our library database, public computers, vehicles across the province, renovations and upgrades, purchasing buildings in some communities.

"With $3 million, we might be able to have one service provider (in the region) but we don't know what that might look like and Victoria hasn't given us any indication."

Golden CCRR programs provide training, information, support and information to child care providers and to parents seeking quality child care. CCRR improves the quality and availability of child care in Golden by providing training and access to liability insurance for caregivers, as well as toy and equipment lending, information about the province's Child Care Subsidy, low cost art supplies, drop-in playgroups and ongoing consultation to both parents and caregivers.

"This will affect all the children in the preschool years in this town to some degree," explains Brenda Managh, Golden Early Childhood Development Coalition (ECDC) co-ordinator. "Whenever dollars are pulled from programs, the sustainability of those programs are at high risk. If we lack the consistency in funding, and we can't maintain the programs, we lose the trust in parents that the programs will continue to exist for them."

Managh says research shows more than 30 per cent of children in the early learning years (ages three to six) in the Golden area are considered 'vulnerable'. With this knowledge, the need for centres like CCRR becomes greater.

Over the past nine months, CCRR estimates their outreach programs have been accessed by more than 250 individuals; referrals have been provided to more than 240 families seeking child care; toy and equipment lending services were used more than 1,130 times by child care providers and about 690 face to face consultations with parents and child care providers were facilitated through the CCRR office and via outreach.

"We are intent on finding a way to keep the Golden CCRR open, that's our first priority," Balango explains. "Obviously any decrease in staff time will have an adverse effect on our ability to educate and implement programs for children and families."

However, she says a reduction in staff time would be more acceptable than closing the doors and cancelling programming completely. If she and CCRR Program Consultant Kelly Rowe were forced to work on reduced schedule - to accommodate funding cuts - they would at least be able to continue to offer some programs and services. This is what is most important to the centre.

Norm Macdonald, Columbia River-Revelstoke MLA says Linda Reid didn't do her job. He says the previous liberal government made commitments the current government was 'pulling away from'.

"She should have been in there fighting; this is months later and there are going to be cuts that are significant," Macdonald says. "We were looking for some leadership from her and now we have come to something that is clearly going to impact many families in Golden. We hear from people that we don't have the child care programs that we need. And now, instead of making improvements, we are taking a step backwards."

Managh agrees. She says for years the ECDC has been building momentum and now, with these cuts, the coalition is forced to take a step back, too. The momentum they had with regards to taking care of children and families is lost.

"I think it's really important for the people who feel strongly about this to act quickly," Macdonald explains. "Once an office is gone, trying to get something back again is a huge job to try and rebuild it from the very beginning. We are seeing that in Golden with the loss of our conservation officer. "From what we have seen, child care is not a priority for this government at all."

If you'd like to help keep CCRR in Golden, please sign their petition letter at the CCRR office or email ccrr@redshift.bc.ca. You can also contact Norm Macdonald, NDP Columbia River-Revelstoke MLA at 344-4816 or 1-866-870-4188; Jim Abbott, Conservative MP, Kootenay-Columbia at 1-250-417-2250 or 1-800-668-5522 or Linda Reid, Minister of State for Child Care at 1-250-356-7662.

Closure of the Golden Child Care Resource and Referral centre, means Golden families and caregivers will:

- Receive Lose the best early childhood education information and facts to families and community partners.

- Receive Lose community, family and school partners.

- Share Lose toys and resources for families, child care centres and community programs.

- Create Lose a family friendly stop in downtown Golden.

- Realize Lose the value of healthy children and families in a community.

- Establish Lose connection to regional, provincial and federal plans for child care and early learning programs.

- Establish Lose community spirit around the potential for a QUAD system of child care: quality, universally inclusive, accessible and developmentally appropriate.