Province eases threshold for child-care subsidies

More families across Alberta will now be eligible for childcare subsidies as the province introduced new funding allotments Monday morning.

Last week, the province announced the renewal of childcare funding agreements with the federal government to the tune of $45 million. Now, families earning a household income of as much as $90,000 can apply to receive $125 a month for child-care costs, up from the $75,000 household income threshold.

The funding will also include support for families with children attending licensed preschools, where previously it was only available to children in licensed daycares, family day-homes and out-of-school care programs.

Rebecca Schulz, Alberta minister of children's services, said this addition is part of “levelling the playing field for preschools and the parents who use them,” adding lower- and middle-income families will now pay less than half what they previously paid for preschool fees.

“Child care is without a doubt a key part of Alberta's economic recovery and we hear more and more that working parents are looking for responsive, flexible and accessible early learning and child care programs,” Schulz said Monday. “We also know that affordability is a barrier for some families.”

Additionally, the province said it would be putting $4 million of the funding toward giving as many as 1,300 early childhood educators a wage top-up as part of the “first step in our long-term strategy” to support the field.

“In the early days of the pandemic, child care operators, preschool operators, out-of-school operators had to deal with non-stop challenges like closures, isolation and staffing issues. But you were resilient,” Schulz said.

“Preschool was the one area of licensed early learning and child care that did not receive a wage top-up for early childhood educators. … And we thought this was a great time to level the playing field, to support our workforce and our operators right across Alberta.”

Earlier this month, the province of B.C. and the federal government promised to introduce a $10-a-day child-care program in the next five years. Schulz said negotiations between the feds and the Alberta government are underway and she's optimistic this announcement is a positive step in those talks.

“We have said from the beginning that one of the things we agree with the federal government on is the importance of early learning and child care for our economic recovery,” she said.

“We need a flexible deal that meets the needs of Alberta operators within our mixed market system but also meets the unique needs of parents right across Alberta. And I think that this announcement and the flexibility that we're seeing and how these dollars are being invested is a really great sign for what's to come.”

In a statement Monday afternoon, NDP Leader Rachel Notley called the funding announcement “inadequate,” adding the provincial government needs to work harder to solidify a deal with the federal government.