Loan forgiven
Baddeck Nursery School released from loan for preschool expansion
Baddeck Nursery School released from loan for preschool expansion.
The Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education is taking on the remaining $56,500 owed on a loan Baddeck Nursery School was given in 2013 by what was then the Department of Community Services.
The board of directors for the preschool, which was in operation for 45 years, were given the news on Wednesday, about three days before pre-primary starts in their former location, Baddeck Academy.
“We are very relieved that the loan was assumed by the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education and understand that there was a lot of work to do to allow that to happen on their end,” Holly MacInnis, president of the board, said.
“All that stress of not knowing for so long but now we got the outcome we were hoping for,” said Tammy MacSween, board treasurer.
To be able to take on the loan, the provincial government had to make amendments to daycare assistance regulations, according to Michelle MacLeod,
spokeswoman for the centre for education. This amendment gave Housing Nova Scotia the authority to allow daycare programs to transfer loans to private school programs and pre-primary program.
“This important change will allow Baddeck Nursery School
Association to transfer the remainder of its outstanding loan to the Regional Centre for Education, who will begin the preprimary program this week,” MacLeod said.
“We thank the Baddeck Nursery School Association, their board of directors and volunteers for their dedication and commitment over their 45-year history. We are pleased that we could find a solution that both relieves the society from having to pay back the remaining loan amount and helps Baddeck Academy continue to establish the pre-primary program over the coming year.”
The loan for renovations and expansion to their classroom inside Baddeck Academy was given when the Department of Community Services was in charge. There is a clause in the agreement saying the loan could be forgiven if payment couldn’t be made in time.
Given until 2023 to pay it off, the board extended its lease with the Cape Breton Regional-Victoria Centre for Education (then the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional School Board) until that date.
But when it was announced in March that pre-primary would be added to Baddeck Academy, the board closed the preschool because it couldn’t compete with a similar free program.