"It's like I won the lottery."

November 29, 2023 1:57 PM

What America can learn from Canada’s new ‘$10 a Day’ child care system [The Hechinger Report] Canada’s launch of a national child care system shows what it takes to improve child care across a country

During the pandemic, Canada, like the United States, was forced to grapple with the fact that its already unsustainable child care system was on the brink of collapse. In 2021, the country’s leaders committed $30 billion (about $24 billion in U.S. dollars) over five years to the country’s first federally-funded child care system — borrowing ideas from a longstanding government-funded program in the province of Quebec as well as from British Columbia’s $10 a Day program. The new Canada-wide system was “very much situated in the context of economic recovery,” said Morna Ballantyne, executive director of Child Care Now, an advocacy association in Canada.

...

As American child care experts call for more federal investment to salvage a struggling industry, Canada’s experience may hold the most relevant lessons on how to make universal child care palatable to politicians and how to design a program to meet the needs of a diverse, geographically sprawling nation. With its new system, Canada has had to strike a balance between upholding the federal vision and allowing local autonomy over details, and between addressing the financial burden for parents while determining how to directly fund child care programs to ensure their stability.

posted by hippybear (30 comments total)

Very interesting article. (And I'm looking forward to reading some of the linked items, like the story about Milwaukee.)

My favorite thing, though, is the quote on the side of the building in the second photograph.

Thanks for posting this, hippybear - I'm always interested in reading about possible solutions to the shortage of child care.
posted by kristi at 2:46 PM on November 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

Canada makes the U.S. look like a final draft: they do so many things just a liiiiiittle bit better than we do.

It's generally accepted that early childhood education has real benefits to kids, isn't it? Would these programs be purely day care, or will they have educational elements? I didn't see that mentioned in the article.

I am also interested in whether this program considers any new jobs as a target or just a nice secondary benefit.
posted by wenestvedt at 2:52 PM on November 29, 2023 [3 favorites]

I'm so happy for universal childcare in Canada. This may be a woefully inaccurate term, but my point is: affordable childcare with federal reach. I say this as a childless person: never had and never will have (assist in procreating) children.

And while I take pleasure in this, I am also aware that the type of 'conservatism' growing in Canada seems to be very similar to what is happening south of us. Every victory is precarious, our future is fraught, as with the world.
posted by elkevelvet at 3:06 PM on November 29, 2023 [11 favorites]

But, but.... the wrong people might get a benefit for free! </s>
posted by drewbage1847 at 3:08 PM on November 29, 2023 [8 favorites]

I'm pretty sure $10/day isn't for free, but I haven't taken inflation into account.
posted by hippybear at 3:25 PM on November 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Apples to oranges. We are vastly different countries in regards to population and type of government. I still love Canada though...live 20 minutes away. They have the best Chinese restaurants just across the bridge.
posted by Czjewel at 3:53 PM on November 29, 2023

Family-obsessed conservatives take note: after the Province of Quebec instituted subsidized childcare, a baby boom ensued. It turns out that prospective parents like being reassured that having children will not be an unbearable expense draining the lifeblood out of your family.
posted by SnowRottie at 5:16 PM on November 29, 2023 [30 favorites]

This parent did win the lottery! This child also won the lottery!
The only United State that comes close to this is Oklahoma and only for 4 year olds/pre-K.
Care for children allows parents and children to participate in society both socially and economically, reduces poverty levels and increase the child's readiness for school. If we care for our community - including its youngest members - we all win the lottery.
posted by mutt.cyberspace at 5:17 PM on November 29, 2023 [4 favorites]

Apples to oranges. We are vastly different countries in regards to population and type of government.

Americans truly are deeply allergic to the idea that they might learn a single thing from another country
posted by en forme de poire at 5:21 PM on November 29, 2023 [21 favorites]

But, but.... the wrong people might get a benefit for free!

Yep - as is always the case w/the "what American can learn" genre of articles, the sad reality is that we're probably too full of dumb, grasping hate to collectively learn anything useful.
posted by ryanshepard at 5:45 PM on November 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

Quebec has had this for years now. Doesn't mean that people don't have to make efforts to find a vacancy when they need one.
posted by zadcat at 5:59 PM on November 29, 2023 [3 favorites]

This parent did win the lottery! This child also won the lottery!
The only United State that comes close to this is Oklahoma and only for 4 year olds/pre-K.

This is not true - WV has lead in the early childhood field for decades, and has had universal PreK since 2008. During the pandemic - using relief funds - any parent who needed child care got it for free.
posted by Gyre,Gimble,Wabe, Esq. at 6:03 PM on November 29, 2023

If citation is needed:

https://wvpublic.org/states-pre-k-program-ranks-among-top-in-country/
posted by Gyre,Gimble,Wabe, Esq. at 6:05 PM on November 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Having used it it’s wonderful. Doesn’t fully fix the availability issues but it’s life changing for some, wish you the same.
posted by WaterAndPixels at 6:30 PM on November 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

We could have all of the nice things in the US, but we'd need to throw the fascists in jail (including the ones in the courts), and get all (horrors!) the woke to fucking vote.
posted by evilDoug at 7:02 PM on November 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Wait is universal pre-k not a thing? It was a thing when I was in pre-K in Texas (shit 35ish years ago now) both in my midsize town (about 25k people) and my very small town (300 people). We moved when I was in kindergarten, but I went to pre-k in the larger town and my sister went to pre-k in the smaller town. I thought universal pre-k was the norm, is that not true?
posted by LizBoBiz at 3:33 AM on November 30, 2023

Would these programs be purely day care, or will they have educational elements?

I’m not sure about other provinces but in Ontario, every daycare (that isn’t a day home) has to have a specific number of Early Childhood Educators (ECEs) who are trained in child development and a ECM (manager) who oversees curriculum, which must be filed with the govt as a condition of licensing. Becoming a ECE requires a non-honours (although you can do a honours) degree. You can get a 1-year certificate as an assistant (ECA) as well. ECEs are trained in early childhood development, including how to assess if a child should be referred for assessment), curriculum, safety, and nutrition as well as licensing requirements (cleaning, toys, outdoor space and activities, etc.) These regulations apply to full-time daycare, no exceptions except day homes (people provide care in their homes for fewer than 6 kids) and a few afterschool exceptions (like recreational programs - registered sports.)

So there is a learning requirement and an outdoor play requirement. It’s not the same as say a Montessori environment but the baseline is solid. Like anywhere you need an engaged staff.

Staff (ECEs + ECAs) are tightly controlled- daycares can’t operate without the right ratio; I myself had to pinch-hit once or twice in my after school program - 3:10 for infants, 1:5 for toddlers, 1:8 for preschool, 1:13 for kindergarten, 1:15 for primary (up to grade 3) and 1:20 for junior (grade 4-6.)

What Americans call pre-K (I think?) is junior kindergarten here. In Ontario both junior and senior kindergarten are full day (9-3) and those classrooms contain a licensed teacher + a licensed ECE. The $10/day daycare applies to babies (bearing in mind Canadian maternity leave is paid for 12, and up to 18 months, so infant spots are hard to find as they’re less common) and up to 4 years old at which point it applies to after school care (it’s being phased in…I’m not as up on this as I was a year ago but a year ago it applied up to 6 years old and will eventually apply all the way up.)
posted by warriorqueen at 4:12 AM on November 30, 2023 [7 favorites]

I should note all kindergarten is public school and therefore free/tax based. Also our post-secondary is a bit different but a non-honours bachelor is 3 years and in the case of ECE offered both at actual universities and at colleges/polytechnics which are kind of like junior colleges there. So university degrees but not a super academic stream (although there are more academic programs where you can continue to masters.)
posted by warriorqueen at 4:22 AM on November 30, 2023 [3 favorites]

The US is working on something like this: HR 953. MA Senator Elizabeth Warren is one of those who introduced it.

As an American who is counting the days until kindergarten (and it's more than a year away), I really hope we can follow Canada's example in this. Childcare is ridiculously expensive and we are penny pinching and trying to get better jobs to get through it without debt. It's set back both paying off my student loans and saving for a down payment. The first year we had to send our child (we were both sent back to in person work "post" covid), we nearly wiped out our savings. And what happens if we want a second child? Back to the childcare grind, no saving for a house, more interest on loans for 5 more years.
posted by carrioncomfort at 5:59 AM on November 30, 2023 [2 favorites]

$70B per year, was Warren’s estimate to do something like that here. We do subsidize other industries. Wikipedia tells me we subsidize farmers at about $16.5B a year. And of course we’ve bailed out sectors in the recent past. I think federal spending on education overall has been around $60B (that’s a 2019 figure). So this is a sizable chunk of change compared to other figures I could find with ten minutes of searching. But presumably someone noticed during the pandemic how stopped up everything becomes when parents don’t have someplace safe to put the kids while they work. It would be nice if we used that information to prioritize keeping those places around.
posted by eirias at 6:08 AM on November 30, 2023

Apples to oranges. We are vastly different countries in regards to population and type of government.

Maybe it’s because I live in the 4th largest city in North America, but I never understand the population argument here. We have a smaller tax base and there’s no doubt the US is an economic powerhouse, so why can the US, with all its capacity — money, power, education, world leaders in research — somehow just not be able to do things?

I think it would be better to blame US culture. The idea of cheap/free (and slave) labour is cultural and the evangelical position on stay at home mothers is both cultural and political for sure. But I think the culture of “we can’t do that” is one that people should think twice before supporting.

K-12 expenditures in the US are 794.7 billion.
posted by warriorqueen at 6:12 AM on November 30, 2023 [10 favorites]

warriorqueen, that’s total — federal, state, and local. The link you provide suggests that around $85B comes from the federal government. My 2019 figure of around $60B came from census.gov ("Local sources of revenue were the next largest at $342.9 billion or 45.6%, and the federal government contributed the least, $57.9 billion or 7.7%.") and I’m wondering what the discrepancy is down to — changes during the pandemic, changes under Biden for other reasons, or differences in what these sources are counting in the total.

I do think the federal vs state expenditure difference matters a great deal culturally. Should it, arguably no, but "should" is a funny word, as they say.
posted by eirias at 7:00 AM on November 30, 2023

I thought universal pre-k was the norm, is that not true?
posted by LizBoBiz

Where I am it is normal that pre k costs more than your mortgage or rent.

At a federally funded preK. The catholic pre Ks are a bit cheaper, but are not held to as many standards.
posted by eustatic at 8:27 AM on November 30, 2023

So, $10/day...currently we pay roughly $36 per day times two kids, depending on after care and meal fees.

Add that I had to start driving a car daily again to shuttle kids, the automobile expenses of kids have doubled my baseline transport expenses at least. So add fuel, tires, oil expenses of thousands a year to the annual bill. I could pay for the nice electric bike in one year of kid car expenses, but I'm in too much debt.

Basically we are a part of a collective group of friends with kids (since covid started) otherwise the logistics fall apart. Financially, it would have made sense for one of us to stop working, but that was letting the terrorists win.
posted by eustatic at 8:48 AM on November 30, 2023 [1 favorite]

I live in Canada, in a low-ish-income neighbourhood, and around the corner from a subsidized daycare in an elementary school. There are more than 100 toddlers for whom that daycare is in the ideal location since it's in the same building where their older siblings go to school. There are only spots for 10 toddlers.

I'm a Canadian who would really benefit from $10/day childcare but there is no space near me at all. I called the most obvious place that my child should go and was told my kid is child #86 on the waiting list and they'd be surprised if even waitlisted child #2 got a spot because I was registering much too late. Out of curiosity, I asked them when child #2 on the waiting list had registered. The month in which that child registered for a spot was 6 months before my child was even conceived.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 8:59 AM on November 30, 2023 [2 favorites]

I am also Canadian. I supported the federal childcare subsidy, but I think the Liberals made a mistake in subsidizing the parents with affordable daycare rather than subsidizing the daycares to encourage expansion and higher wages to offer support. Parents who have a spot in a licensed daycare receive the subsidy, but not every parent is guaranteed to have the subsidy. The daycares can't increase their tuition to match demand, because they're now taking money from the provincial government and there are tighter restrictions on how much they can increase their tuitions by. My wife is a Level 3 ECE so she was able to bump up our two kids to immediate spots whenever we needed a spot, but most parents are waiting forever (if they don't have nepotism connections), because the licensed daycare facilities are simply not able to expand, because there still isn't profits in it for them.

The waitlists grew from from three years before the early childcare subsidy to six years. I think the daycares liked having waitlists so that they could operationalize and guarantee a steady supply of children coming in, but at six year wait lists, they should be allowed to increase their price to reduce the waitlists.

We would not consider moving anywhere until my youngest daughter finishes daycare, because we aren't giving up the valued asset that we know we have.

Keeping daycare affordable and cheap for parents of daycares comes at the expense of the wages of the ECEs working in the daycare. Saskatchewan has admitted that we couldn't even expand daycare programs because people realized that the wages were too low before ECE wages became subsidized by the provincial government. They made the ECE tuition free at Saskatchewan Polytechnic to attempt to encourage more students to join the program, but I think the problem is that the ECE program remains a career dead end, so many young students shy away from the program for something that can guarantee even higher wages.

My wife is now a valuable market commodity, because most ECEs don't have their level 3 certification, but the level 3 certification is what keeps the childcare subsidies flowing.
posted by DetriusXii at 11:16 AM on November 30, 2023 [3 favorites]

Echoing others' comments, unfortunately supply does not match demand for subsidized services, at least where I am in Toronto. People use connections etc to get around absurdly long wait lists and it tends to be folks who could have afforded the pre-subsidy prices just fine who have those connections and resources. So I don't know if this is benefitting those who most need it right now.'

Also, my understanding is that many day cares are dropping out / considering dropping out of the program due to constraints the program puts in terms of their discretion in running their business.

It is better than the previous system though, so I'm hoping they can figure out the supply piece shortly.
posted by sid at 11:53 AM on November 30, 2023

but at six year wait lists, they should be allowed to increase their price to reduce the waitlists.

I'm not understanding how that would increase access, which is presumably the goal of reducing waitlists.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 11:51 AM on December 1, 2023

Also, I'm really curious to know how the waitlists work out given that lots of people are on the lists for multiple centres. I mean if everyone is on the wailist for 10 centres, then obviously the lists at all those centres are longer than if everyone is on the waitlist for 3 centres. I conceived via IVF, so I knew I was pregnant as early as it is biologically possible to know. My son got his daycare spot at 14 months (requested for 12 months). And you can bet your ass I grabbed it even though I could have gone without until 18 months because you can't just throw away a spot.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 11:56 AM on December 1, 2023

I'm not understanding how that would increase access, which is presumably the goal of reducing waitlists.

Extra incomes in the early childcare area would encourage expansion. Daycare facilities are still private operations independent of the government, nobody will construct more facility daycares if there isn't the economic opportunity to do so. And if there's more facility daycare, there's more competition for the labor resources that are required to meet the childcare subsidy requirements. The money can either come from increased tuition or taxes across the whole society, but it has to come from somewhere.
posted by DetriusXii at 10:36 PM on December 1, 2023