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News & Stories: Policy Monitor

April 13, 2011

Budget announced $1.4 million to fund an increased number of early learning and child care spaces and an additional $800,000 for the Daycare Assistance Program (child care fee subsidy).
January 11, 2012

On January 11, 2012, the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development announced a plan "to reorganize school districts; increase parents’ involvement on district education councils; and to pay chairs and members of these councils."
May 16, 2012

Excerpt: "Amendments have been proposed to the unproclaimed Early Learning and Childcare Act to establish a single piece of legislation called the Early Childhood Services Act. The new act would combine all early childhood programs and services such as preschool autism intervention, prenatal support, early learning and childcare, and early intervention.... Changes to the section of the act detailing curriculum frameworks are proposed so that licensed childcare facilities use only one of the two frameworks provided by the department."
June 7, 2012

The provincial government has released a three-year, $38-million action plan, Putting Children First, that will integrate early childhood services into the school system.
August 31, 2012

The provincial government has "re-instated the wage enhancement of $2.75 per hour for early learning and childcare staff. The initiative supports the pay equity measures for early learning and childcare staff".
August 21, 2012

Premier reports on progress in rebuilding early childhood services

The Premier of New Brunswick provided a progress report on its three-year action plan, Putting Children First: Positioning Early Childhood for the Future, unveiled last spring. Included in the plan are integrating early childhood and education services, realigning the boundaries for local early childhood services with school district boundaries and extending the definition of early childhood up to children 8-years-old.
September 21, 2012

The government of New Brunswick announced it would be "investing an additional $1 million in the Day Care Assistance program to increase childcare subsidies and to expand the program eligibility to help families with early learning and childcare costs." This funding is part of the government's $38-million three-year action plan Putting Children First.
March 31, 2013

The budget contains more than $230 million in spending reduction initiatives across departments that are designed to offset inflationary pressures. Detailed, in-depth reviews are underway in the departments of Health, Education and Early Childhood Development, Social Development, and Transportation and Infrastructure to identify service delivery efficiencies. Various efficiency measures have been rolled out across all departmental budgets to offset inflationary and service demand pressures and allow for select new investments.
February 28, 2014

Investing in our children and our schools is one of our government’s top priorities. With the challenging financial situation that we face, we must ensure that we get maximum value from every dollar we invest in our learning system. The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development’s (EECD) budget is increasing by one per cent in 2014-2015.
March 31, 2015

Excerpt: "Increasing the budget for the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development by 3.1 per cent so that strategic investments can be made that will be guided by new, comprehensive plans for both education and literacy."
April 30, 2015

As of April 2, 2015, all approved Child Day Care Facilities Inspection Reports will be available online.
April 23, 2015

Excerpt: "New investments in early childhood development represent more than $3.5 million. Total funding allocated to the Early Childhood Development division totals $76.8 million. Of that amount, $23.6 million has been allocated to the Quality Improvement Financial Program to provide wage enhancement to educators working directly with children in regulated childcare facilities. The Preschool Autism Intervention Program has received $15.8 million. In addition, almost $10 million has been allocated to projects such as a new childcare registry, an early intervention program and new licensing technology."