Sask. child-care providers find hope in new five-year funding deal

Child care operators across Saskatchewan said they finally felt a sense of hope on Friday after the province and Ottawa signed a new five-year extension to the $10-a-day child-care agreement, a deal many in the sector said offered the stability they desperately needed.

Cara Steiner, who runs Prairie Lily Early Learning Centre in Regina, said the announcement immediately eased tension among both operators and families who were worried the program might not be renewed.

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“We’ve been hearing from a lot of families, ‘What are we going to do if this doesn’t get signed again?’” she said. “I’m thrilled with today. The stability that another five-year extension will provide is something the sector has really been needing.”

The renewed agreement kept parent fees at $10 a day and committed both levels of government to long-term operational support. But Steiner said the next phase of the program must focus on something operators have been requesting for years: an equitable funding model that treats infant, toddler and preschool spaces the same across Saskatchewan.

“An infant spot should be an infant spot wherever you are in the province,” she said. “You should be receiving the same level of funding to support that child, whether you’re in Regina, Prince Albert or a rural community.”

Steiner said the last two to three years were among the most difficult operators had faced.

While the $10-a-day program reduced costs for families, centres were left trying to absorb rising expenses without corresponding increases in operational funding. Inflation touched everything from wages to utilities to groceries, and many centres built their budgets in 2020, before those costs surged.

“It’s really hard to have a budget you built in 2020 supporting costs in 2025,” she said. “This year was a really challenging year.”

In particular, Steiner said wage pressures continued to grow as educators upgraded their training through the ministry’s free education programs. Moving an educator from a Level 1 to a Level 3 ECE could add around $10,000 per year per person to a centre’s operating costs, depending on benefits and pensions.

Centres supported those wage increases, and Steiner said educators deserved every dollar. Still, the system hadn’t provided enough funding to match.

Other costs climbed, too. Basic cleaning supplies, toilet paper and paper towels could run close to $1,000 per order, Steiner said. Without increased funding, many centres relied on fundraising and donations from parents to stay open.

While Friday’s agreement offered hope for the sector’s future, Steiner said she couldn’t help but think of centres that didn’t make it this far. Little Memories Early Learning Centre in Regina closed in November, months before the deal was announced.

“I really wish they would have been able to hang on for this announcement today,” she said. “We want to see no more of that happening in the sector. We want programs to stay open, operational and fully funded.”

Steiner said the renewed deal was a meaningful step, but how the funding model evolves over the next few years will determine whether that hope turns into long-term stability.

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