Despite a huge deficit and debt, the provincial government is pushing ahead with all day junior and senior kindergarten because it is too important to delay, according to Minister of Revenue John Wilkinson.
The Perth-Wellington MPP said in an interview on Tuesday afternoon his party had that as an election plank, and is pushing ahead with it despite a deficit this year of over $24-billion.
“It’s too important an investment to make,” Wilkinson said, explaining that studies show that students do better in school when they start their education earlier.
He said the government has determined health and education are its top priorities in spending and there will be no cuts to them.
He added that the “economic challenges” of the day mean the government will phase in all-day learning. He expects it to be provided for 35,000 students by next year, and there will be increases each year afterwards until it is available everywhere in Ontario by 2015.
School boards are being asked now where they can provide the classes.
The provincial program comes after a study by Dr. Charles pascal.
It recommended:
– school boards offer full-day learning for 4- and 5-year-olds starting in September 2010, and that it be available province-wide within three years;
– parents have a choice about their child’s participation, including the option of full-day or half-day attendance
– fee-based programming (before and after traditional school hours and during the summer holidays) be offered at the request of 15 or more families; and
– programs be staffed by well-trained teams of teachers and early childhood educators working with an established, consistent curriculum and approach to learning.
The extended care, Wilkinson said, will be under the supervision of early childhood educators.
The ECEs will also aid teachers in the classroom because the province is going to boost class sizes to 26 from 20 because of financial constraints. Instead of just one teacher, there will be a teacher and an aid in each classroom.
Extended care will start at 7:30am and run to 6pm before and after classes, with teachers working normal classroom hours.
Wikinson said provincial spending is showing results, and grades are getting better because of better funding.
The cost of the program will be $200-million in 2009, and it will reach $1.5-billion by 2015. By that time, there will be an extra 3,800 teachers in classrooms across the province, and 20,000 more ECEs.
He said early learning lets teachers identify learning impediments earlier, and that will lead to better academic careers and better jobs for students. With an aging population and a smaller work force, Ontario will need the best the education system can provide. He acknowledged the province will have difficult economic decisions to make soon, but the first step was setting priorities of health and education.
