As Nova Scotia’s pre-primary program continues to roll out, preschools are facing uncertainty.
Preschools and daycares charge fees, but must now compete against a pre-primary system for four-year-olds that’s free.
Jodi MacKinnon-LeBlanc, of Lil’Gems Childcare Centre in Yarmouth says the province caps the pay for educators at regulated facilities at $17 an hour.
She says some schools are advertising for trained childcare workers, and MacKinnon-LeBlanc says she and other centres will lose valuable staff.
“These jobs are 8 hour days, $22 to $24 per hour. I can’t meet those wages with the freeze that the department has set on our parents fees and the cap they’ve put on our salaries.”
MacKinnon-LeBlanc says she has posed her questions and concerns to both the school board and the Department of Education but says she
just gets the run around.
She says some private facilities in the province have closed because they can’t compete with the provincial program.
You can hear the full interview with Jodi MacKinnon-LeBlanc on the Y95 CJLS Weekender this Sunday morning.
