Conspiracy of public-school hubs

The Globe and Mail ran an opinion piece yesterday (Nov. 25) on the early childcare education plan proposed by the current Ontario government. The author stated, as if blowing the whistle on a large conspiracy, that "unknown to many, it is but one step in a grander plan to create public-school hubs for the “prenatal period through adolescence.”" Um. Right. That's bad? A neighbourhood hub to support families, including offering inexpensive childcare and preschool. Right there in in your friendly neighbourhood public school. The horror!
She argues that the proposed program will be hugely expensive and largely ineffectual. Admittedly there are some major problems, such as who will be hired as early-childhood educators and how much will they be paid (not as much as teachers, that's for sure). And where will already-crowded facilities house these extra bodies during the school day. Her solution? Give parents the money. She estimates parents would be due to receive about $9000 extra per year. And then we could spend it how we liked.
But here's the thing: I don't directly pay to have the road paved in front of my house. If I did, my portion of road might be full of potholes, because I don't really care about driving and cars. Your portion might be re-tarred regularly. And that guy up the street has dug up his portion to plant a garden instead.
Okay, that model clearly wouldn't work. So instead, I'll give the government just a little bit of money, they can pool it, and pave the roads, because enough citizens agree that they like having roads. Do enough citizens agree that we like having children? You don't have to drive on the roads to appreciate their general usefulness. And you don't have to send your children to early childcare centres to appreciate that these will benefit some children and some families, and potentially many children and many families.
We've agreed, as a society, that public schools benefit our children, and by extension, us. What's stopping us from going just a little bit further for younger children, for children who need somewhere to go after school, and for parents looking to connect with other parents? In my own experience, it was when my kids started attending school that I really began to feel connected to my neighbourhood and my community, and much less isolated as a parent. Bring on the conspiracy of neighbourhood school hubs. I can hardly wait.
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