Child care: public versus private?

BY MARIE LITALIEN

A community forum held last month addressed an issue that has been the subject of discussion across the city since the fall: big box day care.

The issue arose when letters of interest were sent to some day care organizations in the city by 123 Busy Beavers, an affiliate of ABC Learning Centre, the largest commercial day care organization in the world.

Tracy Saarikoski, local representative for the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care (OCBCC), was a speaker at the event.

The OCBCC is an advocate for universally accessible, quality, non-profit, regulated child care in the province.

The goal of the forum was to make people aware of the effects of for-profit child care on cities, said Saarikoski. It discussed the downfalls of private care, including high parent fees, inadequate wages, low quality and the exclusion of rural and disabled children.

In any day-care centre, the majority of funds is spent on staff wages, said Saarikoski. A non-profit child care program in Ontario will spend 85 percent of its budget on employment, while ABC Learning Centre organizations spend 50 percent, according to a news release by the OCBCC.

Carmen Ouellette, manager of Children Services for Greater Sudbury, said the average 2007 salaries for child care educators in Sudbury were $27 to $32 hourly for institutional organizations, between $14 and $15 hourly for non-profit and approximately $10.86 for commercial centres.

When the OCBCC raised the issues of for-profit child care corporations at city council in November of last fall, a resolution was passed. The Purchase of Service policy was amended so that only not-for-profit and public child care operators would be eligible to enter into an agreement with the city. The existing four for-profit centres in the city - Cotton Candy Day Care, Cedar Park Day Care, Smiles' N Freckles Day Care Centre, and Maple Tree Preschool - are exceptions.

This resolution does not stop businesses, such as ABC Learning Centre's 123 Beavers, from opening their doors in Sudbury, said Ouellette. It only stops them from receiving government services and subsidies.

Ouellette does not know what the impact of more private child care would be on the city, she said, but because these centres would not be part of a city agreement, parents would have to be more careful. When a day-care centre has an agreement with the city, they are subject to drop-in checks and other procedures to ensure quality.

Child-care centres in Ontario must meet the minimum requirements listed in the Day Nurseries Act, such as licence, premise, equipment/furnishings, playgrounds, staff, health and nutrition specifications. According to Saarikoski ABC Learning Centre's 123 Busy Beavers would meet the bare minimum of requirements, which threatens the quality of child care in the city.

The quality standards are high in Greater Sudbury, said Saarikoski.

"Why are we putting this at risk?"