What do you think of this plan? Tell us on Facebook.

===

VICTORIA — VICTORIA — B.C. parents will get $40 a day to help pay for child care if the teachers strike continues into the start of the school year in September, Finance Minister Mike de Jong says.

The money, available for an estimated 340,000 public school pupils under the age of 13, is the strongest sign yet that the Liberal government intends to allow classroom disruptions to continue into the new school year, rather than recalling the legislature and forcing a contract upon striking teachers.

De Jong described the funds as a "contingency" plan for parents to consider as they look for child care options for September.

But it's also a response to the B.C. Teachers' Federation and opposition NDP, which have called on government to use the millions it is saving on teacher salaries during the strike to help meet teacher demands for improved benefits, smaller class sizes and more specialist teachers.

Instead, de Jong said almost all of the $12 million a day his government saves during the strike will be given to parents.

"Parents can utilize that money to acquire tutoring for their children, they can use the money to explore other education opportunities as they see fit, and for some parents it will be basic daycare, it will be ensuring that their young children have the supervisory attention that they require," said de Jong. "So it will be up to parents."

Details of the plan are still being finalized, said de Jong, but he expects parents will be asked to sign up on the Internet and the information will be checked against public school enrolment lists.

Parents will get one lump sum payment at the end of the strike, and not daily payments, the ministry said. And the subsidy could be considered taxable income depending on the parent's income level.

The millions already saved in unpaid teacher salaries in June — estimated at $178 million — remains on the table for negotiations, said de Jong.

BCTF president Jim Iker said the government is stripping funding from the education system in a "blatant and divisive attempt to prolong disruption in BC schools."

"This scheme will not help improve class sizes, increase support for children with special needs, or provide more one-on-one time for all students," Iker said in a statement. "It is my hope that the government will redirect its energies into reaching an agreement with B.C. teachers through mediation this summer."

In Vancouver, where child care fees are typically highest, it costs parents about $37 a day to enrol a school-aged child in summer daycare.

Before- and after-school care for school aged children typically ranges between $20 and $40 a day in Metro Vancouver. During the full strike and lockout at the end of June, child care operators in Vancouver were generally charging about $20 extra per day for children already enrolled in before- and after-school programs, said Crystal Janes of the Westcoast Child Care Resource Centre. Even with the increased fee, operators were barely covering costs, she said.

"Certainly, $40 would support those programs better."

But she cautioned things could be different in September, as university students who were available to take jobs to supervise the higher number of children in care in June will also be going back to school.

In addition, many before- and after-school care programs in Vancouver operate out of schools. Some are able to continue during the strike, others are not, Janes said.

Parents who don't have their children already enrolled in such programs will have a hard time finding child care because of a lack of spaces, Janes said.

She said she has no child care arranged for her 12-year-old daughter, and she doubts teachers and the province will reach an agreement by September.

"What am I going to do? I don't have formal care. I can't start looking for formal care because then I'll be on a hook for a deposit and the full month's fees, if I could even find it," Janes said, adding that she would likely have to hire a teenager to stay with her daughter for nine hours a day.

"I don't know if a teenager will want to do it for $40 a day. So it is a big, huge question mark and it does give me a little bit of a tight stomach."

Reaction to the government announcement from parents on social media was largely negative.

"It really is a joke," parent Anthony Mehnert said in an email. "My twins will be missing out on their start of kindergarten, where am I supposed to get child care for $40 or even $80 a day? The money would be better spent in an agreement with the teachers."

"There are not enough child care spaces to meet demand and even if there was, my kids need an education, not a babysitter," said Steve Keenan.



If you're on a mobile device, please click here to see the chart.

Teachers went on strike June 17, closing schools throughout the province for the final two weeks of the year. The two sides have held exploratory talks in the last month, with little progress. The main issues remain wages, benefits and funding for class size and composition.

The two sides are within one percentage point on wages — the BCTF is asking for eight per cent over five years and the province is offering seven per cent over six years. But the BCTF wants a $225-million a year fund to hire new teachers and deal with class size and composition issues, as well as another $225-million fund to deal with retroactive grievances and to fund improved medical benefits, professional development and preparation time.

The government has offered to maintain a $75-million Learning Improvement Fund but says the BCTF's contract demands are unaffordable during tough economic times and are far more than what many other public sector unions have already settled.

NDP critic Rob Fleming said the government should be using its energy to negotiate a deal with teachers and help anxious parents.

"This is exactly what parents don't want to hear right now, that the government has essentially given up, admitted failure and is trying to prepare students and families for a disastrous strike and disruption in their lives that has gone on for far too long and will carry into the fall," he said.

De Jong said both sides have five weeks left to strike a deal before school start. But he repeated the pledge that the government will not legislate teachers back to work in September and that teachers must lower their demands to an affordability zone that is similar to settlements already signed by half of the province's unionized public service.

Meanwhile, the B.C. School Trustees Association is calling on both sides to budge from their positions, with teachers reducing their benefit request to fall within the range of other unions and government to put all the savings accrued from the strike into a bolstered learning improvement fund for class size and composition.

rshaw@vancouversun.com

tcarman@vancouversun.com

Click here to report a typo or visit vancouversun.com/typo.

Is there more to this story? We'd like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. CLICK HERE or go to vancouversun.com/moretothestory