Image Credit: ADOBE STOCK

Parents at a Kelowna day care are looking for answers after fees were raised $800 for many kids in the program to $1,700 per child, per month — after a $900 government rebate.

They’ve tried to organize meetings with the owners and sought advice from a local MLA, while also trying to not lose their spots at ProducKIDvity Childcare Academy for kicking up a fuss.

A parent who wishes to stay anonymous for fear of retaliation says they understand where the operator is coming from but simply can’t afford it.

"The care has always been excellent, it's nothing against that, it's just really been hard because in the almost three years my kid has been on waiting lists, this has been our only option and it's so much money to pay,” the parent said. “It's more than our mortgage."

The fee is $2,599, reduced by the Childcare Fee Reduction Initiative to $1,700 but is still far outside the average Central Okanagan rate of $400 per month after the rebate, according to Childhood Connections.

The hike was sold as a change to the fee structure for a basic package and an ‘all-inclusive’ package that forced many parents into the inclusive package.

"Earlier this year, the daycare changed their hours; they were open 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.” the parent says. “Now their basic hours are eight to four and the only way to access childcare before or after these hours is if you pay more money. So they changed their structure, removing hours and charging more money for what used to be their basic hours. Full-time working parents can't work from 8:15 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. to drop off and pick up their kids but the only way to access the hours that were previously offered is to pay more money."

With no other options for childcare, parents have tried reasoning with the owners but found little flexibility so they’re hoping MLA Renee Merrifield makes good on a promise to find out how government funding for daycare centres work.

READ MORE: Why an Okanagan family is moving back to Vancouver to find childcare

Alexandra Carnio, owner of ProducKIDvity, says she is also frustrated. She says the government subsidy system is partially to blame.

"We've really been trying to work with our families. We pride ourselves on being a community. Really we should try to rally together to change the government program and change the narrative because at the end of the day, we're a small business, I have a second mortgage on my home for this business, and I am so invested in this project. I'm not against affordable childcare, but I'm also struggling to cover costs right now," she says. "The government has removed all support for (for-profit) centres. If you're a private centre they have taken away grants, any extra funding that you used to be able to qualify for and this just exacerbates the shortage of spots because now profit and not-for-profit are competing. This new beautiful YMCA facility just opened for $3 million, funded by the government, meanwhile I'm struggling every month to pay a loan for renovation. The reality is, at our base fee, we are losing money. The difference is at our all-inclusive fee, we are able to sustain ourselves as a business; if we were just charging the base cost, we would not be able to cover our operation costs."

She says establishing her daycare to accept government rebates comes with rules, including not charging more than 70% of the average cost in the region, and that forced the two-tiered pricing to reduce fees by $1300 a month.

“Which puts us in a weird position, especially because we pride ourselves in paying our educators a living wage and that fee alone doesn't even cover our payroll," Carnio says. "At that point, we set our basic care at the level we needed to; basic care meaning 8 to 4, Monday to Friday, no food. But to offer the extras we had to come up with the all-inclusive package which originally did not come at an extra price but we now had to charge extra with the basic care costing much less.”

There are currently only four not-for-profit childcare providers for infant-toddler programs in Kelowna which translates into a greater need for these private centres that still have long waitlists representing a need for more of them in the city.

The Minister of Education and Childcare, Rachna Singh, was unable to respond to an interview request.

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