Fate of Golden's early learning centres remains uncertain
Golden Star
By Mardy Bacigalupo
Jan 31 2007

Since the provincial government cut $455 million from child care earlier this month, local pre-school teacher Suzanne Struthers has been hearing from concerned parents.

For the past five years, she has been operating Golden's only licensed pre-school. She can accommodate eight children at a time. With the funding cuts, Struthers says parents who need assistance paying for their child's care won't be able to apply for the province's Child Care Subsidy, since the program has been drastically reduced.

While none of the families currently taking their children to Struthers are requiring the subsidy, Struthers says they may next year, when the assistance might not be available. Her livelihood could be seriously impacted. "I know parents are very nervous; they are all asking about it," she explains. "They are really nervous about losing services and they don't know where they are going to turn to. It's creating a lot of stress for everybody."

According to Renee Balango, CCRR program co-ordinator, it's possible child care fees could increase in the future as a result of the funding cuts. Without the Child Care Subsidy, fewer children from lower income families will be able to participate in some form of regulated child care.

"It is likely that child care fees are going to increase; we can't be sure and can't say how much, but we would guess child care costs would go up," Balango says. "Child care centres will also be losing part of their monthly operating grants, so parents may be expected to pay more because they are getting $100 per month from the Universal Child Care Program, which is the federal government's initiative."...

Struthers is the Community Action Program for Children (CAPC) facilitator. Partnering with Child Care Resource and Referral (CCRR), CAPC is able to deliver outreach programming to children and families in Parson and Field. Their outreach services assist more than 20 children.

Balango says the parents in the outreach community are concerned, too. She says the cuts represent a 35 per cent reduction in CCRRs operating budget. After March 31, the end of CCRR's fiscal year, she's not sure whether their doors will remain open or not.

"If CCRR is going to close, then outreach programs won't be happening anymore because it is really difficult for other service providers to get out into those areas (of Field and Parson) without CCRR's partnership," Balango explains. "If they can't access training and free resources at a local level, they will have to pay out of their own pocket. So there's some concern about what services they will have locally."

Currently CCRR shares the cost of travel and planning with their partners. CCRR provides the toys and resources for the Success by Six outreach, Toys and Tots program and if CCRR closes, the impact will be felt by these programs.

In addition to training, child care providers like Struthers depend on the CCRR for their extensive toy lending library, training and other early learning resources.

Balango was hoping she would have heard more about the fate of Golden's CCRR by now, but she's still waiting.

"We would have expected that we would have found out more at the beginning of January," she explains. "We need to know something more concrete than we might be closing on April 1 or October. But our service delivery is being maintained until at least March 31."...

Balango explains this means new licensed child care spaces can not be created unless others close....

Struthers says parents pay $4.50 an hour to send their children to her pre-school. She hasn't raised her rates recently and says her fee is the 'going rate'. With 16 children in her care at a time, although only eight are in the pre-school at once, she is just surviving.

"I just break even with what I am doing and if the resources are gone from CCRR next year, we (child care providers) are already talking about how we will have to buy more resources," Struthers explains. "As a CAPC facilitator, I know that every single (early childhood development) program we have in town borrows resources from CCRR - absolutely everybody. Parents find out about these programs and services through the CCRR bulletin board."

Other child care facilities in Golden include the TLC Playschool, four family day cares, an after school program at Alexander Park Elementary School and on-site child care at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort.

Struthers says closing the CCRR simply can't happen.

"I want to make a point that everybody who uses the resources, or doesn't use them but can see the value of the resources, to please write a letter of support because once we lose these resources, it is very difficult to get them back," Struthers says....

You can also contact Norm Macdonald, NDP Columbia River-Revelstoke MLA at 344-4816; Jim Abbott, Conservative MP, Kootenay-Columbia at 1-800-668-5522 or Linda Reid, Minister of State for Child Care at 1-250-356-7662.