The New Brunswick NDP is promising universal before and after school childcare in every public school if elected.
Jennifer McKenzie says it’ll be available before the school day begins and after it ends, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., and hours could be extended depending on local family circumstances, like near a mill with shift work.
McKenzie says the program, which will be run by school districts, will create 11,000 new childcare spaces and there will be no waitlists.
“Just the waiting lists alone are enough to cause families a lot of stress,” says McKenzie, “and then trying to find something that’s close to home, convenient, and doing all the travel arrangements from school to the childcare, from childcare to home, just keeping track of all that adds a lot of stress.”
McKenzie says they will eliminate waitlists by hiring more staff — early childhood educators, school board employees, or other workers with equivalent qualifications — as the demand increases.
Today at the Rainbow Park in Saint John at 11 am, Jennifer McKenzie, is doing an announcement to the press about the NB NDP childcare plan, that will be part of our electoral platform. #nbpoli #SaintJohn
— New Brunswick NDP (@NB_NDP) June 6, 2018
She says most of the costs will be covered by existing government budgets or the fees parents will pay.
Those fees will be $10 a day for before or after care and $15 a day for both, and existing subsidies will apply.
A minimum number of children will need to sign up for a school to offer childcare, but McKenzie says that number will be “relatively small”.
The NDP is also promising to open more school-based early learning centres in underserved communities where space and demand exists.
