The cost of having your kids looked after before and after school will be going up in September.
The Halifax Regional School Board approved a fee increase for its Excel child care program – offered to students in Grades 1 through 6 – during its board meeting Wednesday night.
Fees for students attending the program full-time will go up by 7.5 per cent, while fees for part-time participation will go up by 15 per cent. The price of registering a student in the Excel program on parent-teacher days will go from $5 to $7.50.
“The reasoning behind it is really quite simple,” said board chairman Irvine Carvery. “We haven’t reviewed our costing for quite a number of years, and the cost of providing the service is getting pretty close to the revenue we’re receiving.”
Carvery said salaries are the biggest expense associated with the program, but that the board also provides snacks and other supplies for the students. Most of these expenses have increased substantially in the seven years since the board last reviewed the fee structure, he explained.
The board had looked into raising the full-time fees by up to 10 per cent, but Carvery said many felt that was too steep an increase.
“We’re not looking to get the board rich over this,” he said. “We’re not anticipating another increase in the near future.”
Just over 2,100 students are currently registered full-time in the Excel program.
