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b.c. starts small in aim to make before- and after-school care universally available
$2 million is earmarked over two years on 180 new before- and after-school care spots in three school districts
may 15 2024
4 minute read
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south surrey mom alisha ludlow has been desperately looking for before- and after-school care for her eight-year-old son, jacob.
ludlow, a single mom, has been unable to snag one of the 36 before- and after-school spots at her son’s school, edgewood elementary school, which has 900 students.
“with 36 spots, like i have no running chance of even getting my foot in the door,” said ludlow, who is a plumber. “it baffles my brain that i have a career under my belt but i can’t sufficiently support my child while going to work and jacob going to school.”
premier david eby on tuesday announced that the province wants to integrate before- and after-school care into all public schools so parents like ludlow won’t have to scramble for a spot.
but the province is starting small, with $2 million earmarked over two years on 180 new before- and after-school care spots in three school districts: chilliwack, nanaimo-ladysmith and nechako lakes. the spaces will be available by the start of the next school year.
critics say 180 spaces is a drop in the bucket considering the overwhelming demand for before- and after-school care.
speaking from behind george jay elementary school in victoria, eby said he understands the struggle of parents looking for before- and after-school care.
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“there are very few parents who work at a place where the hours are nine to three,” he said. “that stress of trying to manage pick up and drop off schedules … can and should be resolved with an integrated child-care system in our province.
ludlow is frustrated surrey school district isn’t on the list, considering it’s the province’s largest school district with 75,067 students and 103 elementary schools.
“it’s not a fair playing ground,” she said “if they’re gonna offer (before- and after-school care) that they should offer it as a whole, not as a half (measure). because it just doesn’t work. it just leaves holes in a system that’s broken.”
the 32-year-old ludlow starts work at 7 a.m. and has struggled to find child care that’s open before 7:30 a.m.
alisha ludlow and her son jacob
she has thought about moving cities to find out of school care that works with her schedule but she said the cities she’s considered, including pitt meadows, maple ridge and langley, all have similar shortages of out-of-school care.
ludlow said she’s always left scrambling for child care when jacob’s school is closed for a professional development day or for spring break.
b.c. united’s education critic, elenore sturko, said can’t understand why the b.c. ndp would launch another pilot project that will help just 180 kids when the need is so much greater.
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“it’s just not good enough,” she said.
sturko, the mla for surrey south, said the fact that surrey school district was left behind is another example of how “when it comes to surrey this government is failing.”
asked how the province chose the first three school districts, eby said those districts already had school space available and staff ready to fill the gaps.
willow reichelt, board chair of the chilliwack school district, welcomed the funding and said in a statement it will “help support our goal of providing before- and after-school care in every chilliwack elementary school by 2025 and will increase our district’s capacity to expand access to affordable, quality child care.”
the chilliwack school district already has 800 school age care spaces, nanaimo-ladysmith school district has more than 1,800 and nechako lakes school district has over 100.
child care advocate sharon gregson said the announcement is “great news for families” and sets a clear direction for school districts which typically have far fewer before- and after-school spaces than students who need it.
she said the coalition of child care advocates of b.c. has long been pushing for the government to formalize before- and after-school care as part of its universal child care program.
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as school districts grapple with funding shortages, gregson said the province must assure them that “providing child care on site is not going to eat into their k-12 funding.”
she would like an amendment to the school act to require schools to provide full daycare for school aged kids on professional development days, over spring break and through the summer.
gregson would also like the b.c. ndp to expand the number of $10-a-day child care sites. there are currently 15,000 $10-a-day spaces across b.c. and the government has set a goal of having 20,000 such spaces by 2026.
“the thought of expanding by only another 5,000 over the next two years is inadequate,” she said.
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