Waterloo public school board increases extended day care cost by 5%

Waterloo Regional District School Board voted to raise the cost of before and aftercare programs on Monday for the third straight year.

Next year, parents will have to pay $29 per day if they have their children enrolled in both sections of the program.

This represents an increase of $1.50 a day, or 5.45 per cent, over what parents were charged for the 2021-22 school year. This works out to an increase of $30 for every four weeks.

The price was increased by 50 cents a day for the current school year, following a $1 daily increase the year before, according to the agenda.

The board began offering extended day programs in 2010 and it is now offered in 70 schools with 2,860 students being enrolled.

There is some flexibility for parents as they can choose to enroll their kids in before school or after school care, depending on what they need. If they choose one of the other options, it will be at a reduced rate.

The latest increase comes on the heels of the upper levels of government announcing $10-a-day childcare for licensed daycares across the province through the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) agreement.

The extended day programs offered by the board are not eligible as they are not licensed through the Ministry of Education.

The board’s agenda says they are working with the region and the Ministry of Education to see if they can obtain licensing so four- and five-year-olds would be eligible for the $10 rate.