So says Tom Brodbeck in today’s Winnipeg Sun (Sun Media group). And he’s done a little research to back that up.
There are more kids on waiting lists for licensed child care than there are child-care spots in Winnipeg, according to a recent study by a University of Manitoba professor.
It’s a great sound bite for the government child-care lobby that wants billions of dollars more poured into the not-for-profit, licensed child-care industry at the expense of all other child-care options.
And it’s one that was repeated again this week.
Unfortunately, the professor’s claims are completely bogus.
U of M Prof. Susan Prentice said she found 14,758 names on the waiting lists of 294 child-care centres in Winnipeg.
That’s more than the combined 14,041 occupied spaces in those centres.
As a result, there are more kids on waiting lists than there are spaces, she concludes.
It packs a powerful punch. But it’s wrong.
What Prentice’s study doesn’t tell you is how many of those names are counted more than once.
You see, families don’t just put their names on one waiting list. They often put them on two or more. And many centres have no policy for removing names from their wait lists, even when the family doesn’t need the space anymore.
Which means Prentice’s numbers are completely useless.
[…] But what we do know is that centres routinely tell parents to get their names on as many lists as possible.
“I recommend that families try to go on at least two or three other lists,” wrote Marlene Cabot, supervisor at Horizon Children’s Centre.
We also know that some people using licensed child care at one facility have their names on waiting lists at other facilities.
None of this is factored into Prentice’s numbers. It’s lousy research.
And it makes it very difficult to trust any of the numbers coming from the child-care lobby these days.
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
Contact Mr. Johannesen about this article using this form. Please refer to article's title.
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