Dear parents/guardians,
The Hawthorne on Essex Daycare Board would like to draw your attention to a critical issue that may significantly impact how much the Hawthorne on Essex Daycare must pay to lease their space from the Toronto District School Board, and consequently, your child-care fees.
The issue: The Child Care Occupancy Grant from the City provides funding for leasing costs for more than 280 child-care programs located within schools. Next week, the City of Toronto is considering terminating this grant, effective January 1, 2020.
What that means: Without this grant, or other provincial funding, school boards will have to recover lease costs directly from school-based daycares. That means the daycare would have to find ways to cover thousands of dollars that are not part of its operating budget, such as by raising fees paid by parents/guardians.
Time is pressing: On July 16 and 17, 2019 (Tuesday and Wednesday), Toronto city councillors will be voting on the recommendation to terminate this grant.
What you can do: Contact your city councillor.
We have included a suggested message that you can cut, paste, and edit to send to your councillor, as well as their email and link to the City of Toronto’s website.
Dear XX
I’m writing to urge you to vote for maintaining the Child Care Occupancy Grant.
As a parent whose child (children) is (are) in a child-care program located in a TDSB school, this funding is vital.
Cutting the grant would disadvantage many families, whether it’s related to a spike in fees or a desperate search for new childcare if centres are forced to close or cut services.
The city’s Child Care Occupancy Grant allows for sustainable, safe, affordable, and accessible options within schools. Most of all, it supports a high quality of care that we all want for our kids.
Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
XXX
City Councillors Contacts
Ward 9 – Davenport
Ana Bailão – Email councillor_bailao@toronto.ca
Ward 10 – Spadina-Fort York
Joe Cressy – Email councillor_cressy@toronto.ca
Ward 11 – University Rosedale
Mike Layton – Email councillor_layton@toronto.ca
Ward 12 – Toronto St. Paul’s
Josh Matlow – Email councillor_matlow@toronto.ca
If your ward is not listed above, you can see the full list of councillors here.