News & Stories: Policy Monitor

Excerpt: "Almost 90,000 students have joined Alberta’s classrooms in just four years as record population growth continues to put pressure on schools, teachers and classroom learning environments. Growing class sizes and increasingly complex classrooms are making it harder for teachers to give students the support and attention they need to succeed. To help address these pressures, Alberta’s government is acting now by providing $200 million to schools through the new Class Size Reduction Grant. The funding will support the hiring of more than 1,400 teachers in grades K-9 to help reduce class sizes and improve classroom learning conditions in increasingly complex classrooms."

Excerpt: "School districts will have access to a new provincial investment to create before- and after-school child care spaces as early as fall 2026. The Ministry of Infrastructure is providing $5 million in child care capital funding to support renovations and the repurposing of existing space in school buildings to create new child care spaces. This program is the first of its kind, building on the Province’s work to look at innovative ways of creating spaces more efficiently. Successful applicants will be eligible to access additional funding through the Ministry of Education and Child Care to support opening these spaces, including $20 million to support operating costs for new child care programs over the next three years."

Excerpt: "Families in the Beaver Bank area of Halifax Regional Municipality will see more early learning and child-care spaces opening in their community later this year. It Takes a Village Daycare Society is opening a third location at 925 Windgate Dr. The new centre is expected to create up to 194 new child-care spaces for infants, toddlers and preschool-aged children."

Excerpt: "As Alberta’s government continues to act on class sizes and classroom complexity, teacher input will be essential. To ensure educators have a direct voice in shaping the education system, Alberta’s government has appointed 16 members to the Teacher Advisory Council. The council members, including teachers and teacher leaders, will have the opportunity to share their perspectives on emerging issues, topics, education policies and initiatives as they are being developed."

Excerpt: "The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) is taking action to strengthen supports for Junior Kindergarten to Grade 12 (JK-12) students following a comprehensive review of inclusive schooling. Inclusive schooling means ensuring each student can learn and succeed, with supports that reflect their individual needs. Between 2024 and 2026, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) reviewed how inclusive schooling is working across the NWT. The review confirmed what families and educators have been telling us: student needs are becoming more complex, while schools have increasingly relied on short-term federal funding that is not stable or predictable. The review made 11 recommendations to improve how supports are delivered. The GNWT has accepted all 11 and is moving forward with implementation."

Excerpt: "In our short six months since forming government, we have added over 200 child care spaces. Budget 2026 includes more than $33 million to support child care spaces, including the establishment of approximately 1,200 spaces which are now in progress and the creation of an additional 400 child care spaces. And I am proud to say that we are committed to continuing $10 a day child care. All children deserve the support they need to thrive right from the start. That’s why we’re investing more than $3.6 million to increase inclusion supports in child care services across the province. As soon as our children enter the classroom, we need to do more to ensure that they have the supports they need. As a retired educator myself, this is something I am passionate about. Teachers are vital to this work, as are student assistants. That is why Budget 2026 includes almost $625 million for educators and teaching and learning assistants. That’s a $28.9 million increase. This increased funding will support the addition of 94 teachers and 20 teaching and learning assistants to the system."

Excerpt: "Canada-wide early learning and child care (CWELCC) transfer payments are expected to increase from
$7.9 billion in 2025-26 to $8.1 billion in 2030-31. This includes the final two years of funding for the Early
Learning and Child Care Infrastructure Fund which provided $625 million over four years (in effect from
2023-24 to 2026-27) and renewal of the CWELCC agreements starting in 2026-27."

Excerpt: "The Ontario government is continuing to deliver on its plan to protect Ontario and ensure students have access to modern classrooms by investing $1.6 billion in 79 school construction projects across Ontario. The investments will support growing communities by creating over 29,000 new student spaces and over 1,900 licensed child care spaces so students have the modern learning spaces they need to succeed in their studies and prepare for in-demand careers."

Excerpt: "The wage grid is a key pillar of Higher Wages, Good Jobs, More Child Care – Manitoba’s Early Learning and Child Care Workforce Strategy. This wage grid increase builds on previous rounds of wage enhancements aimed at addressing longstanding compensation gaps in the early learning and child-care sector, the minister noted. The base operating increase provides facilities with additional resources to support day-to-day operations alongside staff compensation. The wage increase applies to ECEs, child-care assistants (CCAs) and home-based providers working in licensed and funded child-care facilities and homes. With Manitoba’s largest historic wage increase last spring, the minister added that ECEs could see a wage increase of up to $7.00 an hour retroactive to April 2024, depending on their certification level and the size of the child-care facility. The new wage grid came into effect on April 1."

Highlights include: $10/day childcare - $81.6 million; PEI School Food program - $8.3 million; Free K-9 school supplies - $985,000; Free universal pre-k - $1.6 million; Enhanced PEI Child Benefit - $4.5 million; 400 new early centre spaces - $4.2 million.

Excerpt: "Today, the Ontario government introduced the Putting Student Achievement First Act, 2026, to strengthen school board oversight and accountability and ensure more consistent learning experiences for students to prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow. The proposed changes would move Ontario toward a more accountable, consistent and modern model of high-quality education that better serves students, families and educators across the province."

Excerpt: "The ECE Recruit-Back Incentive provides eligible Early Childhood Educators (ECE) with a grant of $5,000 to return to work full-time in a Manitoba licensed non-profit early learning and child care centre or licensed home. The ECE Recruit-Back Incentive supports Manitoba non-profit child care facilities in recruiting passionate and skilled ECEs, incentivizing individuals that have left Manitoba’s licensed early learning and child care sector to return to full-time work. Funding for The ECE Recruit-Back Incentive is provided under the Canada-Manitoba Canada-Wide ELCC Agreement. "