On Tuesday, January 7th, 2020, MCCA was invited to attend the Winnipeg West Pre-Budget Consultation. Jodie Kehl made a presentation to the stakeholder round table and public community meeting held at Sturgeon Heights Community Centre. Panel members included the Minister of Finance, Honorable Scott Fielding and MLA for Assiniboia, Scott Johnston.
The Manitoba Child Care Association’s 2020 pre-budget recommendations to the Province of Manitoba are straightforward:
Provide adequate funding for a high quality early learning and child care system.
Early learning and child care service providers rely on the Government of Manitoba to ensure the funding formula, whether through federal transfers, parent fees or provincial grants will sufficiently meet the expenses associated with operating quality early learning environments for Manitoba’s children.
A truly supportive investment into child care will balance accessibility, affordability and quality, which at the core, is the workforce.
Funding must support the competitive wages and benefits required to attract and retain a skilled workforce to preserve the viability of the sector.
As operating costs increase annually, funding must also increase, at minimum, at the rate of inflation to include all standard operating expenses. With no increase to operating revenue in over four years, existing licensed not for profit early learning and child care programs are struggling to balance their operating budgets. To offset deficits, centres have frozen staff salaries and reduced program expenses.
According to the 2016 MCCA/Probe Research Survey, the average salary of an ECE with 12 years’ experience is 25% below the Market Competitive Salary Guideline Scale (which is indexed and released annually). And this disparity continues to grow. The increasing shortage of trained ECEs is becoming more and more evident. There has been a 23% reduction of graduates over the past four years. This is putting additional strain on the current workforce. Manitoba’s reputation as a leader in early learning & child care will be compromised as the programs continue to experience exceeding financial pressures.
Read the full submission: Pre-Budget Submission 2020
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
Pre-budget consultations give Manitoba families the opportunity to share their views on key issues for Manitoba’s future.
Over 26,000 Manitobans signed a general petition in 2019 to increase funding for not for profit child care programs. These 26,000 citizens believe and support investing in quality, licensed early learning and child care.
The benefits are irrefutable – lifelong developmental benefits for children including higher academic and social outcomes, more parents accessing education and employment opportunities, key poverty reduction strategy and economic growth. Our government has been fiscally responsible in addressing the deficit and we applaud them for this; however, all children and families in Manitoba deserve a quality, not-for-profit, affordable, accessible system – please make early learning and child care a priority in the 2020 provincial budget.
To participate in the pre-budget process, you can complete an online survey or attend one of the upcoming Pre-Budget Consultations in Winnipeg, Gimli, The Pas, Thomspon, Flin Flon, Swan River, Altona and Steinbach. Telephone town halls are also being planned.
For more information: www.EngageMB.ca
Categories: News
Posted by Jodie Kehl at 11:45 am
