Last Thursday, the Alberta government announced that they are introducing a flat fee for daycare. Up until now, the government subsidized daycare fees on a sliding scale. In general, the more money you made, the more money you paid.
But starting April 1, all families, regardless if they are rich or poor, will pay the same amount.
“Providers have expressed concerns about equitable funding,” Jobs, Economy and Trade Minister Matt Jones said during a town hall last Thursday.
Many daycares in the province have had problems with the current subsidies. Even last year, they said that with the rising cost of food and utilities, the money the government was giving them was not enough.
The government’s solution to the funding problems is to raise fees for many struggling Albertan families.
Relief for Some
Of course, the situation is a bit more complicated than just saying that the rich are paying less and the poor are paying more.
Up until now, every daycare has decided how much they want to charge per month.
For Kristi Bacsu, the changes will help her family. She chose a daycare that cost $1795 per month without subsidies. After subsidies, she’s been paying anywhere between $500 to $600 per month. This fit within her budget.
But she has a second child on the way, and she wouldn’t have been able to double the amount she’s currently paying.
With the changes, she’ll keep paying the same amount, only for two children instead of one.
It will bring her financial relief. “I will be more inclined to go back to work knowing it will only be $650 for two kids,” Bacsu tells TheRockies.Life. “I think this is great.”
Stress for Others
Jenna Wendland’s tale is very different. She tells TheRockies.Life that the changes mean that she’ll have to pull her two year old daughter from daycare.
She was paying $100 per month under the old policy.
“The $326 flat rate works out to 9% of our annual income at the moment and with inflation we are barely able to keep food on our tables,” she tells TheRockies.Life.
They simply won’t be able to afford daycare once the prices go up.
Wendland suspects her daughter has autism. At eighteen months, her daughter wasn’t speaking or walking yet. Wendland and her husband enrolled her daughter in daycare. There, she was able to hang out and socialize with other kids.
“During her time at daycare she has started talking, she is learning social cues from her peers and we are seeing her make strides in her overall development,” Wendland said.
Waitlists are long for getting an autism diagnosis. Many families wait years. Having access to daycare now means that Wendland’s daughter gets the help that she needs, without even having a diagnosis.
Not being in daycare anymore is something that could potentially impact her long-term.
What’s Fair?
Jobs, Economy, and Trade Minister Matt Jones has stated that with the new childcare costs, the government is hoping to bring in a level of equity that they say didn’t exist before.
He believes that it’s not fair for some families to be paying more than others. “We believe everybody should be contributing to the cost of childcare,” he said at the town hall.
The government has said that their goal is to bring more equity into the childcare subsidy system.
Will the recent changes do that?
It depends on how you look at what equity is.
Marin Health and Human Services explains things this way: “Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities. Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome”
So according to this way of looking at it, equality means that every family receives the same amount of money. Equity means that families get money based on how much money they earn.
Rich families don’t need as much financial help. Sure, more money would be nice, but they’re still able to put food on the table if they don’t get help. They pay more for daycare.
If you look at equity this way, poorer families who might have to choose between feeding their kids or sending them to daycare get more funding.
Both Businesses and Families
When we think about equity as well, we might also think about what’s good for businesses. And daycares have been struggling to keep their businesses afloat because they haven’t been getting enough funding.
Minister Matt Jones reminded the Alberta public of that in the town hall last Thursday. It was the reason he announced the funding changes.
But there are options available that don’t put the burden of keeping daycares financially on families. Wendland believes that the solution is more government support. She’s contacted her representatives to talk about that.
“Is it a possibility for daycares to receive additional funding?” she wonders.
Instead of expecting individual parents to foot a bill they can’t afford, she’d like to see the government lean in and put more public money into daycares. She’d like there to be more money for things like educational assistants and helping parents of children with disabilities.
