Early Childhood Development Minister Dominic Cardy sits with kids at a Rothesay childcare centre on April 11, 2019, after announcing a wage increase for early childhood educators. (Brad Perry/Acadia News)
The Higgs government’s wage increases for early childhood educators will benefit very few in the sector which has many operators scratching their heads in disbelief.
Cindy Butland, owner/operator of the Next to Home Early Learning and After School Centre in Moncton, says giving increases to only educators with two year diplomas doesn’t make sense.
“We’ve heard NBCC has started an online two-year option but that just started in January. There’s a four-year bachelor degree of early childhood coming to UNB in September but again these programs haven’t really started or just started,” she notes.
Butland says all of her employees are amazing in the early childhood field but yet none will be eligible for the increases announced this week which she finds very disheartening.
She adds the sector wants a meeting soon with government officials.
On Thursday, Early Childhood Development Minister Dominic Cardy announced a 75-cent wage increase for educators who have completed a two-year college diploma or a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education or a related field.
Cardy said trained educators in the province will now make at least $17.25 an hour and he added more than 1,000 educators could qualify for the wage increase in 2019-20.
