Parents in 撸奶社区know one thing to be true—child care is scarce, and a $10-a-day child care program is even more so.
After hearing that the funding for the affordable child care program, launched by the provincial government in 2018, could soon change, parents at Discovery Kids have banded together behind a petition in the hopes they can keep it going.
Father of two, Will Prescott said the families heard about the possible changes to the program almost a month ago and were immediately devastated.
“I've been really lucky to have two kids at Discovery Kids. My daughter technically graduated from there last year and has gone to kindergarten now, but my son is there,” Prescott said.
“Because of the changes to the funding model, and the negative impact it's going to have on the staff and the kids and the potential future of the $10-a-day program, the parents have come together to try to work on some advocacy, to hopefully make some changes and get some conversations going with some government officials to make the positive changes.”
Discovery Kids was one of 55 prototype centres that launched the $10-a-day program in 2018.
At the time, according to the , the funding model “essentially removes almost all financial risk to the operators.”
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Education and Child Care said that their approach to supporting $10 a Day programs has “shifted over time.”
“As the ministry learns more about the operating expenses and revenue of individual providers, adjustments have been made to the funding model to ensure ineligible expenses were not burdening the taxpayer, to make sure funding is appropriately targeted,” the spokesperson told The 撸奶社区.
The 撸奶社区 reached out to Discovery Kids for comment, but they said they were unable to comment on the issue.
Parental concern
Prescott said that there are approximately 47 families that are a part of Discovery Kids and almost all have participated in setting up their petition.
“We really wanted to stand up for the staff, but also Squamish, we're such a fast-growing community. It's a very young community, and I know so many parents who don't have the privilege to have daycare in this town, like they're still on the waitlist or trying to get in,” he said.
“So we need to keep finding ways to support the daycares that are already established and doing amazing stuff, but also to continue to expand the program and to find more $10-a-day spaces and more child care spaces.
“It just seems crazy to me that ... Discovery Kids which was one of the first, if not the first, $10 day programs in town ... and we seem to be handcuffing them with this new funding model, rather than supporting them and trying to expand the program so that more people can access high quality and affordable daycare.”
Fellow parent Tegan Bucholtz said that she was told the funding changes would reduce the number of staff Discovery Kids could employ.
“What was made aware to me, that was really concerning, is that the funding is going to be cut for the program, and it's going to be cut in such a way that it's going to affect the quality of care that the kids are getting at the moment,” she said.
“Under the new funding model, I believe they're switching it to only [funding] one qualified early childhood educator to two assistants.”
Currently, Discovery Kids employs five infant-toddler/special needs educators, two early childhood educators, and three early childhood educator assistants.
“So when you have 25 kids and only three people watching them, especially when there are children who are maybe in need of a little more attention, it becomes kind of a really low quality of care situation,” Bucholtz said.
“I know in my son's class specifically, there are two children with diagnoses that require additional support, and there's actually several being monitored that potentially may need it. So in his class, it would be really detrimental to have those kinds of cuts made.”
Prescott said that the centre would take on children of all abilities and that the new funding model would likely affect this aspect of their care.
“They'll take any kid, no matter where they're at, whether they're neurodivergent, whether they have a special need, they're willing to take them,” he said.
“But I think if future funding models or plans go into place, they would have to vastly reduce the staff, or it would just very much change the outlook for the daycare, and so they wouldn't be likely to be the inclusive place that they are.
“If they had to go ahead with those cuts the way they are now, it sounds like the only choices they would have would be to either withdraw from the funding agreement and no longer be in the $10-a-day program, or if they stayed in the program, completely overhaul their operations. It'd be pretty devastating, I think, for the parents and for the staff.”
Ministry comments
The spokesperson for the Ministry of Education and Child Care said testing for a new operating funding model began in 2023.
“This model is a significant step forward for the $10-a-day ChildCareBC program. By providing formula-based, stable, and equitable funding, it aims to support licensed child care providers while ensuring that child care remains affordable, high quality, equitable, and inclusive for families,” the spokesperson said.
Child care providers have known changes to the funding model were coming for two years, according to the spokesperson.
“As with all 2018 $10-a-day sites brought in under the revenue replacement model, all the original sites have been invited to work collaboratively with the ministry during the upcoming year through a continually improving, supportive and fully funded transition to the new model,” they said.
“This is about making sure there is equity across providers to ensure taxpayer dollars are being used to create more affordable spaces for families throughout B.C.
“At the end of the day, the Province is committed to make dollars available for child care to make life more affordable for families and that is what we are doing.”
Will they stay or go?
But what happens if Discovery Kids pulls out of the $10-a-day program and has to charge families full tuition?
Both Prescott and Bucholtz said their kids would remain at the centre.
“We would [stay] just because my child would probably have another year, and he loves it there so much. We're also lucky now that we only have one kid in daycare, but there are other families where that might be the decision of being able to go back to work or not go back to work, which is a very stressful decision for a lot to make,” Prescott said.
And for Bucholtz, that is her exact situation.
“Personally, in our situation, we now have a second child, and I was finally going to be able to go back to work this September. I have not worked in four years because I don't work a job that is so high paying that it makes sense to have two kids in a fully-paid child care facility,” she said.
“So in my situation, I was very much looking forward to going back to work. I was very much looking forward to contributing to my own family's financial needs, and if they have to withdraw, I am back to being a stay-at-home mom. Which is great, I love being with my children, but at the same time, I don't get to re-enter the workforce, which is something that I was very much looking forward to doing.”
Bucholtz said she would keep her son at the centre at least part-time, but her six-month-old would remain at home with her.
But she noted an that said “between March 1 and April 1, 2025, families will be benefiting from 770 new $10-a-day spaces at 22 child care centres throughout BC, with the total number of … spaces reaching approximately 16,000 spaces at 334 child care centres.”
“If they're doing that by having to take away funding from the places that already have it, or reduce the funding from the places that already have it, they're not doing any children anywhere, any favours,” she said.
In Squamish, there are five $10-a-day child care centres and three in Brackendale, providing 133 and 72 spaces respectively.
To see the petition, visit the
