Paying ECEs What They Are Worth

Building Blocks for Child Care, (B2C2) Ontario, is a charitable corporation with a mission to expand and preserve accessible, affordable, high quality non-profit and public early learning and child care for future generations.

We realize we are not alone in believing that the low salaries and benefits our sector is known for must be addressed if we are going to be able to expand – many operators already feel like they are hanging on by a thread and many have shared that they are not even at their current license capacity because of limited RECEs. Expansion feels like a something not fathomable, but at the same time we know that families are going to expect that there will be a space available for them.

If expansion requires a salary scale, how do we get from here to there? What do we need to know?

Actually, we already know quite a bit!

What we know

The workforce crisis is well-known and is being discussed at all levels of government – including the importance of a salary scale.
RECEs, currently working for Community Colleges and programs operated by CMSMs/DSSABs are generally appropriately compensated. Their roles have been evaluated by their employers and a rate was determined based on the scope and responsibilities of their role
- Their compensation package includes health and dental benefits, a pension (or equivalent), programming time etc.
- The child care support roles – those not in ratio (Leaders, EAs, cooks, HK etc.) are also appropriately compensated

Why it matters

Because the job description, responsibilities and qualifications of those working for Colleges/CMSMs/DSSABs are essentially the same as RECEs working in community-based programs. So, as we think about a salary scale or what an RECE (and the other roles) should be compensated we already have examples to learn from.

What do we do?

We collectively articulate to all levels of government that the current (2023, because it is 2023) salary scales and compensation packages utilized by Colleges and CMSMs are our starting point for a conversation. These employers are our comparators and now that we are funded, similarly to them, where most of our revenue is from grants versus parent fees, we need:

equity for the same scope of responsibilities
confirmation that the compensation package includes annual increases tied to inflation

Curious to see compensation packages from other employers? Here are a few examples.

Wage Grid of Community College ECEs and Assistants as of March 2022

HOURLY WAGE RATE
Job and Payband	Start	6 months	1 year	2 years	3 years	4 years
Early Childcare AssIstant.	26.21	27.00	27.81	28.62	29.52	30.39
Reg. Early Childcare Educator	33.05	34.08	35.10	36.16	37.21	38.37
Program Leaders	35.83	36.89	38.00	39.13	40.31	41.52

Wage Grid for RECEs from a selection of organizations (2022 rates)

	Start	6 months	1 year	2 years	3 years	4 years	top of scale annual based on 37.5 hrs/wk
Community Colleges, Ontario	33.05	34.08	35.10	36.16	37.21	38.37	74,821.50
(% yearly increases)		3.12%	2.99%	3.02%	2.90%	3.12%
City of Ottawa	32.63		33.94	35.30	36.72	38.18	74,451.00
(% yearly increases)			4%	4.59%	4%	3.97%
Andrew Fleck Children's Centre	25.61	26.00	26.73	27.48	27.75	28.19	54,970.30
(% yearly increases)		1.52%	2.80%	2.80%	0.98%	1.59%

City of Toronto - 2023 Salary Scale

Classification	Salary range	Hourly range
Untrained	$56,521-62,106	$31.06-34.12
ECE Grade 2 (diploma)	59,496-65,374	32.69-35.42
ECE Grade 2 (Asst supervisor)	66,212-72,709	36.38-39.95
Supervisor	92,593-108,784	50.85-59.77
Casual/Supply - Trained		32.69-35.92
Casual/Supply - Untrained		23.69-26.02
Cook/housekeeper	57,886-63,627	27.83-30.59