Open letter to Ontario’s Minister of Education on child care

Recently government of Ontario made the decision to advocate to federal government to increase the expansion of for-profit child care spaces in Ontario. The nonprofit child care sector and its allies have come together to publish an open letter (below) to the Minister of Education, Todd Smith requesting that the province first support nonprofit child care providers by investing in the workforce and capital expansion, as well as updating the funding formula.

If your organization would like to add your name to this letter please fill out the following Google form and we will add your endorsement.

It is more important than ever that we advocate for Ontario families to have the high-quality and stable child care system they deserve.

Access the French version of the letter below.

The Honourable Todd Smith, Minister of Education

CC: Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Jenna Sudds, & Deputy Minister of Education Kate Manson-Smith, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Education Billy Pang

RE: Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) expansion and for-profit cap

July 18, 2024

Dear Minister Smith,

On behalf of the nonprofit child care sector and its allies in Ontario, we are writing to you to express our deep concern about the recent request to increase expansion of for-profit child care spaces in Ontario, under the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care agreement. Expanding the for-profit sector’s role, in caring for and educating our children, presents both real and unnecessary risks. Attempts by other jurisdictions to expand for-profit child care have consistently failed, and Ontario’s children and parents deserve better.

We recognize the immediate need to expand child care spaces and reduce waitlists, but expanding for-profit child care will not solve the underlying issues that limit growth in the sector. Expanding for-profit child care will divert public funding to private owners and corporate profits instead of desperately needed investments into staff compensation, and other programs and capital investments that contribute to quality care for our children.

Nonprofit child care providers, which include Indigenous-led, Francophone, co-operatives, and those supporting children with disabilities, are ready and willing to work alongside government to expand their services, and support all the diverse needs of Ontario’s families. However, the persistent issues of a dated funding formula, lack of support for capital investments, and missed opportunities to support the child care workforce, make expansion all but impossible. Nonprofit child care providers are a safe and secure investment because they are grounded in the needs of their community, and have zero shareholder profit motive. They are advocates for workers, preventing high turnover and delivering high quality education standards for Ontario families. Research has consistently shown that nonprofits provide higher quality care overall in comparison to the for-profit sector.

For-profit expansion leads to a failed system

Australia and UK governments as well as the province of Quebec are all regretting their decisions to increase for-profit delivery of child care, and have all experienced similar negative consequences. In all cases, reliance on for-profit child care has eroded quality and left the sector less stable. Their respective governments are now spending twice as much as their initial investment to build back services.

We recommend that the province heed our recommendations to support nonprofit and public sector driven expansion of child care in Ontario.

Recommendations

Introduce a provincial funding formula that ensures long-term stability and viability of providers.

Both nonprofit and for-profit providers are struggling with the current funding formula utilized by the province as it is not sufficient to deliver on the $10-a-day child care program in Ontario. The true cost of providing services – adequate workforce compensation, rising occupancy costs including ongoing costs related to expansion, and other operating costs that have risen with inflation – is significantly higher than what the current funding formula offers. Rather, it encourages taking a lowest-common-denominator approach which stifles quality and innovation. The delay in launching a renewed formula has centres running deficits, lowering wages for some child care workers and pulling out of the program all together, resulting in inaccessibility and longer waitlists. With an up-to-date funding formula that provides multi-year predictable funding and reflects the true cost of service provision, and with grant and loan funding to cover the costs of expansion, nonprofit providers will expand and provide affordable child care services Ontarians need.

Increase the wages of early child care educators to attract necessary staff and keep Ontario competitive.

All providers are struggling with recruiting and retaining child care staff, which is a significant barrier to expanding services. When child care operators cannot staff their existing programs, why would they consider expansion? Both the provincial and the federal governments need to increase funding to support a wage grid starting at least $30-40 per hour for Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECEs) and at least $25 per hour for non-RECE staff. Failing to invest in the child care workforce means, inevitably, it will remain difficult to expand services as well as manage extensive waitlists.

Children and families deserve to feel safe and secure with consistent, qualified educators day after day. Parents should not be worried about staff shortages and turnover that disrupt the quality of care their children receive. Raising the wages of all child care staff (especially RECEs) and introducing a wage grid to guarantee wages that will attract qualified and experienced staff to the sector going forward is a necessary step to tackling the expanding waitlists in Ontario.

Leverage the CMHC child care capital program to spur expansion in Ontario.

The Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation (CMHC) is launching a new child care expansion loan program that will provide $1 billion in low-cost loans and $60 million in non-repayable grants, specifically allowing nonprofit child care providers to build new spaces and renovate their existing child care centers. This is a critical opportunity for the province to complement CMHC investments with the following initiatives:

Infrastructure Ontario to make financing available to nonprofit child care providers, especially those developing other community infrastructure.
The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, alongside Infrastructure Ontario, to create a pooled fund to backstop loan guarantees by municipalities for nonprofit development.
The province to make available surplus land free or at below market rates to nonprofit child care centres for purchase or rent, in particular leveraging all school board assets.
The province to incentivize nonprofit expansion with a provincial child care expansion low-interest loan program that also provides non-repayable capital grants and support for institutions that facilitate nonprofit and public grants and support for institutions that facilitate nonprofit and public development.

Partner with willing and capable care providers

With support, 70 per cent of the existing child care providers that are nonprofit and public are willing and able to expand. Now is the time to partner with some of the longest serving nonprofit child care providers in this province, rather than taking the risky approach of allowing for-profit child care to drive expansion. Further expanding the percentage of for-profit organizations in Ontario’s child care sector beyond the 30 per cent limit that Ontario agreed to in 2022 does not aid in the government’s goal of supporting Ontario’s families or addressing growing waitlists long-term.

The nonprofit child care sector welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with the government to expand and strengthen the child care system in Ontario, so that every family has the care they need and deserve.

Yours Sincerely,