AECEO submission to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs’ Pre-budget consultation process

Executive Summary of Recommendations

The AECEO recommends that the Ontario Government develop and invest in a comprehensive
workforce strategy for the ECE profession that includes: 

• A provincially established, annually indexed, regional wage scale 2 along with annually indexed
  base funding for child care and other family resource and support programs in order to
  equitably raise the salaries, working conditions and morale of all ECEs and early years staff and
  to strengthen recruitment and retention. A standardized wage rate in the early years and child
  care sector will ensure staff with equivalent education and work responsibilities are paid a
  similar rate of pay no matter where they work. These initiatives would further contribute to
  higher and more consistent quality across programs. The Government of Manitoba announced a
  wage scale program on January 12, 2016.
• We support the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care’s call for at least $500 million in capital
  funding for Year 1 of the child care expansion to begin to make a real difference in availability of
  spaces; provide $300 million in new operating funding to keep pace with expansion of spaces,
  to support child care services directly and kick start a process of system transformation. The
  province should contribute an additional $75 million to address immediate crises faced by
  existing programs;
• The province should commit to moving from the current broken fee subsidy system to an
  affordable sliding fee scale, and begin work immediately to design an affordable fee model that
  works for all Ontario families;
• A provincial mandate and supporting funding arrangement to make the Designated ECE position
  in full-day kindergarten a full-time, full-year position comparable to that of elementary school
  teachers;
• Support for essential ongoing education and professional learning for early childhood educators
  and early years staff at all levels, no matter where they work;
  • Appropriate infrastructure support, including funding to facilities, programming, curriculum
  development, and early childhood education and care organizations. 

-reprinted from the Association of Early Childhood Educators of Ontario