Daycare business "tough"

Photo: Amanda Worms

On the heels of a new report released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives which says daycare fees have dropped, one Kelowna provider is taking exception to the notion.

Amanda Worms runs two independent licensed child-care facilities in Kelowna. 

"It's a tough way to run a business," says Worms, owner of Little Owl Academy. "It's worth it when you can help families but warm and fuzzy feelings only go so far."

Worms says despite federal and provincial subsidies, families aren't paying the price for what daycare actually costs.

"They've thrown a lot of money at childcare and they are making announcements about opening 400 new spaces and all that good news but the fact is we have no teachers," she said.

"Why would anybody spend $10-$15,000 getting a post-secondary education to make $16 an hour? it just doesn't make sense and they're not doing anything about it."

Worms says it is increasingly difficult to do business without being able to pay staff well enough to keep them, let alone attract new employees: "I need nine new educators this year and I've got two applicants."

On the infant toddler side Worms says it costs about $1,600 per month to run one space for one infant.

"If we're only charging $1,000 a month, that means our three- to five-year-old program is subsidizing, so nobody is actually paying what the service is really worth," Worms continued.

Both levels of government – federal and provincial – currently indicate they are listening and working with daycare providers but Worms begs to differ.

"What they're doing is subsidizing current fees but current fees aren't covering the costs because we still have to pay our teachers."

She says it's a delicate balance between paying teachers what they're worth and making the funding they earn, including government subsidies, go far enough.

"I don't pay myself, I basically take the hit so my people can eat," she said. "We have got a government that just doesn't understand the plight of the daycare field."   

Through information obtained from freedom of information requests, Worms says from April 2016 through April 2017, 2,194 exemptions were approved in B.C. for "underqualified educators" to act in place of a qualified educator.

"A very conservative estimate would be that this impacts 13,000 children in B.C.," Worms said. "This shortage has begun to impact both quality of and accessibility for child care spaces.

"Without government action, operators are left with the choice between operating with unqualified educators, shutting down spaces, or raising fees."