Enrolment down, daycare demands up
Richmond News
15 Apr 2008
By: Nelson Bennett

Finding a good child care space in Richmond is hard and getting harder, say some parents, despite the fact the school district insists the number of students in Richmond has remained static.

Ken Morris, secretary treasurer for the Richmond School District, says the number of school-aged children in Richmond has remained pretty much static for the last 10 years.

"There are more people, but fewer children, proportionately," Morris said.

According to the city's policy planning department, the number of children aged 0 to 12 actually shrank from 24,138 in 1996 to 23,117 in 2006.

But that hasn't eased the demand for more daycare.

"There was such a huge shortfall to begin with that we haven't caught up," said city social planner Lesley Sherlock.

According to city's 2001-2006 child care needs assessment, the city needed 600 new out of school care (OSC) spaces.

Since that assessment was made, 162 spaces were added, leaving a shortfall of 438.

One factor that may be increasing the demand for child care, despite declining enrolment, is that there may be more families now in which both parents are working.

In the hope of addressing the child care crunch, Mayor Malcolm Brodie wrote the school district in January asking the district to consider freeing up more classrooms for use by daycares.

The school district responded by saying it already provides 50 classrooms in 31 schools for child care.