EXCERPTS
The city’s department in charge of child care says the province is stiffing Ottawa $2.2 million.
A report prepared for council rips the province for the shortfall and proposes to dip into the child-care reserves to fill the hole.
City staff say $2.2 million is equal to 260 child-care spaces. Losing the money would push the waiting list for subsidies past 1,000, staff say.
While the city acknowledges the province for injecting more money into child-care programs, it’s frustrated Ottawa is the only municipality to actually see a reduction in funding. A $1.4-million chunk of the decrease is chalked up to a new funding formula, one the city says is based on “flawed” assumptions about the city’s own investment.
The city argues its contribution to the child-care program was cut in half in 2014, not because the demand decreased, but because it changed the way money is distributed. Money now goes to families as a subsidy that travels with the child, rather than going to child-care agencies. Savings have gone into the city’s child-care reserves.
“The 2016 reduction in provincial funding, due to what staff perceive as a flawed funding model, further exacerbates the problem of inadequate funding for child care in Ottawa,” Aaron Burry, general manager for community and social services, tells council in the report.
“It can also reduce the stability of the local child-care sector on an annual basis and seems to contradict the provincial vision for a more stable child-care sector. Staff have communicated this challenge to the province but, unfortunately, the funding allocation remains unchanged for 2016.”
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Education pointed out child-care funding to the city has increased in recent years.
“The City of Ottawa’s changes to their 2016 child care allocation is attributed to adjustments related to their municipal expenditures on child care, a decrease in the number of low-income families based on demographic data and a reduction in capital retrofit funding which supported transitions as a result of full-day kindergarten implementation,” May Nazar said in an email to Postmedia.
“Although the City of Ottawa has decreased in 2016, their allocation remains at a nine-per-cent increase since the implementation of the child care funding formula.”
The city’s wait list for child-care spaces has 8,830 names. There are 984 children already approved for a subsidy and just need a space. Placing all children on the waiting list in child care would cost another $8.4 million in provincial funding.
The province, through the Ministry of Education, is responsible for funding child care.
The city’s child-care budget for 2016 is $119.7 million. The city says the province is providing $106.7 million, while the municipality is kicking in another $13 million.
According to the city, local child-care providers have said priorities include maintaining special needs resources, fee subsidies and general operating funding. Staff will ask for council’s permission to direct another $3.5 million in municipal funding to those areas.
The report will be up for discussion Thursday by council’s community and protective services committee.
-reprinted from Ottawa Citizen