Tuesday October 7, 2025 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Enabling school districts to provide space for child care and after-school services was introduced as Bill 19 today in the BC Legislative Assembly.
Enabling school districts in BC to support families with more child care on school grounds is part of supporting families to take part in the economy. The Bill, if passed, will enable school districts to provide child care to children of all ages, including infants and toddlers.
The idea is to support parents to drop off and pick up their children from child care and school in one location, in a way that lines up with the employment hours of most working parents.
Districts also will be allowed to provide care during non-school days, such as professional development days, and winter, spring and summer breaks.
- These changes could also improve the ability of school districts to support sustainable child care programs or expansions by ensuring districts can recover reasonable costs, similar to how non-for-profit centres can operate.
- School districts will work with local communities and First Nations to inform expansion planning and how best to meet community needs.
This announcement follows the provincial announcement on Aug. 28, 2025, about the opening of 640 new child care spaces on school grounds.
ChildCareBC affordability programs are saving families throughout B.C. an average of $6,700 per year on child care fees at more than 156,000 spaces.
Premier’s comment:
“As a parent, I know that finding safe, convenient and affordable child care is a top priority for young families, but it’s not always easy,” said Premier David Eby. He joined Minister Beare for the noon-hour press conference about the Bill 19 legislation today in the Hall of Honour at the BC Legislature.
“We are building a seamless child care system in our province that supports parents from the early years through to graduation. This legislation is the first step on the path to getting more child care on school grounds all across our province. Using our existing infrastructure and partnering with school districts is a smart, sustainable solution that puts existing resources to their best use for families,” said Eby today.
Pilot projects:
“Our successful child care on school grounds pilots in places like Okanagan-Similkameen have shown us what’s possible when we work in partnership with local districts,” said Lisa Beare, Minister of Education and Child Care.
The child care pilot program launched in Fall 2024 in three British Columbia school districts: Chilliwack (in the BC Interior), Nanaimo-Ladysmith (on mid Vancouver Island), and Nechako Lakes (BC north).
The goal was to create integrated before-school and after-school child care at elementary schools. The program provided $2 million over two years to create about 180 new daylong licensed child care spaces and aims to gather information to expand the model to other district.
“Not only will these changes make way for more access to high-quality care before and after school, younger kids will also get a chance to familiarize themselves with spaces and faces at school, setting them up for success for their future K-12 journey.”
BC NDP government direction:
Since 2018, government has undertaken plans to build more child care spaces and provide significant savings for families. ChildCareBC’s space-creation programs have helped fund more than 41,500 new licensed child care spaces in B.C., with 26,200 of these open and providing care for families. School districts have been strong partners in creating these new spaces, with more than 14,700 new spaces on school grounds and more than 7,600 of those spaces open across 43 school districts.
Since 2018, ChildCareBC has kept more than $3 billion in the pockets of working B.C. families, the government states today.
“Empowering school districts to support child care throughout B.C. is a fantastic way to expand access to care, while using spaces effectively,” said Rohini Arora, parliamentary secretary for child care. “These proposed changes will make a real difference in the future of our communities – one where families can really see themselves thriving with child care stability and continuity for years to come.”
If passed, this legislation will allow school districts to add child care spaces on school grounds and opt into the Province’s Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative program, which reduces the cost of child care for families by as much as $900 per child per month. The Affordable Child Care Benefit is also available to reduce parents’ fees further and, in some cases, can eliminate fees altogether for the families that need it most.
Expanding access to school-age care in B.C. could create more job openings for those looking to join the workforce, as well as providing current employees with new opportunities in this field.
The Province says it will continue to work closely with school districts, local governments and community partners to identify opportunities and create new sustainable spaces that meet the needs of families in every corner of B.C. as part of government’s continued work to building a universally accessible child care system in the province.
===== GOVERNMENT LINKS:
- About Bill 19: https://strongerbc.gov.bc.ca/legislation/
- ChildCareBC: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/family-social-supports/caring-for-young-children
- ChildCareBC New Spaces Fund:: www.gov.bc.ca/childcare/newspacesfund
- B.C. Benefits Connector – how to connect to services and help save money: https://gov.bc.ca/BCBenefitsConnector
- For more information about Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care, visit: https://canada.ca/child-care
===== RELATED:
- Mandatory early literacy screening starts in Kindergarten this year (September 12, 2025)
- Child care & seniors care are social infrastructure (July 18, 2025)
- 770 more child care spaces in BC at $10 per day (March 24, 2025)
- Education ministry now led by Lisa Beare (November 20, 2024)
- Provincial & school district collaboration for 105 more west shore child care spaces (August 8, 2024)
- Moving ahead with before-&-after-class care for students in BC schools (May 15, 2024)
- NEWS SECTIONS: CHILDREN & CHILDCARE | K-12 EDUCATION | EARLY CHILDHOOD & PRESCHOOL | BC NDP