The Ontario government will provide financial assistance to daycares as they lose students to the all-day kindergarten program, and will allow schools to finish out their contracts with independent childcare providers.
The announcement came yesterday as the legislature passed a law that will require school boards to offer full-day learning to 4 and 5-year-olds and Education Minister Leona Dombrowsky promised to give schools a little wiggle room to finish out pre-existing daycare contracts.
“We recognize that there may be boards who perhaps have contractual arrangements, or whatever, and that they require some transition time and we will make accommodation for them for a short period of time,” she said.
Meanwhile, millions of dollars will go toward helping daycares cope with a shrinking base of clientele. A little over $5-million in operating subsidies will be dispersed to daycares next year, as the early learning program is launched in about 600 schools. The annual subsidy will grow to a peak of $51-million over the 5 years that the program is rolled out to more than 4,000 schools across the province.
“These are new dollars to stabilize childcare as a result of the 4 and 5-year-old who will be moving from childcare to the education system,” said Minister of Children and Youth Services Laurel Broten.
An additional $12-million will be doled out to non-profit daycares to help them renovate their facilities and gear them to younger children.
The full-day learning program will be optional to parents and available everywhere by the fall of 2015. It will pair teachers with early-childhood educators in the classroom throughout the school day, and provide extended-hour programs for a small fee.
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