Childcare pay offered if schools don’t open

NEWS/ SCHOOLS — A plan by the provincial Liberals to pay parents $40 a day for child care if the teachers’ strike goes past the start of school in September isn’t meeting with favour from the B.C. Teachers Federation.

And with less than five weeks to go until the new school year begins, school trustees are calling on both sides to make some moves toward a settlement.

Lower Mainland media reported Thursday that Finance Minister Mike de Jong said the subsidy would be available upon application and will be paid for out of the money the government is saving by not paying teachers during the strike.

While there was no press release confirming the plan, de Jong was quoted as saying the money will help parents of children under 13 years of age who will require daycare or tutoring because of the strike.

“Parents can utilize that money to acquire tutoring for their children, they can use their money to explore other educational opportunities as they see fit. For others it’ll be basic daycare,” de Jong told reporters in Victoria, according to CTV.

The subsidy would cost about $12 million a day, de Jong said.

But the B.C. School Trustees Association said Thursday the government should commit to putting all of the savings from the strike and lockout into the Learning Improvement Fund to support students, student learning, and class size and composition.

It also said the BCTF should modify its demands for benefit increases so that the overall compensation package falls within the range accepted by other public sector unions.

“As the governors of B.C.’s local school districts and employers of staff who make our schools successful, B.C. school trustees know that a balance must be found between the bargaining objectives of the B.C. Teachers Federation and the economic mandate established by the provincial government,” the trustees association said in a media release.

In his own media statement, BCTF president Jim Iker blasted de Jong’s daycare plan. “This scheme will not help improve class sizes, increase support for children with special needs, or provide more one-on-one time for all students,” he was quoted in The Vancouver Sun as saying.

“It is my hope that the government will redirect its energies into reaching an agreement with B.C. teachers through mediation this summer.”