As  province maintains a sunny outlook, hope dims for children living in poverty
JUSTINE HUNTER
Globe and Mail
November 28, 2008

VICTORIA -- Like a kid hoarding his marbles, Finance Minister Colin Hansen didn't want to let go of much this week.

Mr. Hansen's latest fiscal update hacked $800-million from this year's projected income - and that's based on figures that predate most of the bad economic news. Yet he insisted core programs like health care won't be cut. …Something has to give - and topping the list of likely casualties is a program designed to help the growing number of young children living in poverty.

Mr. Hansen's idea of a restraint program, so far, is to firmly say no to any new government spending schemes. "This is a year there will be very little opportunity for us to put in place new programs," he said.

One of the most ambitious and costly new programs in the works is the move to all-day kindergarten for children as young as 3.

Earlier this year, the government floated the concept of starting next fall with an full-time option for five-year-olds. It has particular benefits for children from low-income families, but it's also won favour from working parents generally, who want more options for affordable, quality childcare.

For Jeremy Solomon, who will be 5 in July, it would mean a less traumatic introduction to school than what is currently in store for him come September.

His mother Stacey rattles off his schedule: He is enrolled in French immersion at Jules Quesnel elementary in Vancouver for three hours a day. For the school hours that he is not in class, he'll be in kinder-care. Then it's off to after-school care until she's finished work. Three different programs in a day, at three locations, with three sets of caregivers.

Ms. Solomon has booked off the first two weeks of September just to help him with the transition….

For families living below the poverty line, however, early childhood education programs are also about ensuring that children show up for school ready to learn.

David Butler-Jones, Canada's chief public health officer, recently called for more investment in early childhood development programs to help close the health and education gaps between Canada's well-fed children and the economically disadvantaged ones.

Last week, First Call, a Vancouver-based coalition of child and youth advocates, released their annual child poverty report card. Once again, B.C. captured the unenviable title for the worst child poverty rates in the country. Most disturbing is that the rating was based on 2006 statistics, a time when the provincial economy was booming. "If we were doing so poorly for those at the bottom in good times, they are so much more vulnerable now," said Adrienne Montani, provincial co-ordinator of First Call. "Now is not the time for government to drop the ball on all-day kindergarten."

… a diligent reporter trotted down to Education Minister Shirley Bond's office. Surely the expansion of kindergarten is off the rails, she's asked.

Not at all, insisted Ms. Bond. "The question is, how fast can we begin," she said in an interview. "I would still like to see some phased-in approach to this that we could begin as early as September, 2009." …."I remain optimistic this is a high priority of government."…

Moving to all-day kindergarten just for five-year-olds would be a massive undertaking. It means hiring hundreds of new primary school teachers, and finding double the space currently needed to accommodate the 35,000 children who will be showing up for kindergarten in September of next year. For three- and four-year-olds, it likely means a whole new system involving early childhood educators….

But does it mean abandoning one of the "great goals" that Premier Gordon Campbell set out not so long ago, to make B.C. the best-educated, most literate jurisdiction on the continent? …

The care question

Educators in B.C. have some reservations about the expansion of kindergarten – mostly because they say government isn't adequately funding the present system.

The British Columbia Teachers' Federation supports the notion of all-day kindergarten for five-year-olds, but would prefer to leave younger children in the care of qualified early childhood educators.

"The B.C. government should fund affordable early childcare and education for every child in B.C., and commit to staffing daycare centres with certified early childhood educators in not-for-profit centres," Irene Lanzinger, president of the BCTF, said in a submission to government on the feasibility of all-day kindergarten.

In an interview this week, Ms. Lanzinger said the downturn in the economy makes the concept more important than ever. "Poverty has a significant impact on children and their ability to learn," she said. But she doesn't believe Education Minister Shirley Bond is going to land the cash needed in time to hire teachers and make space for next fall. "We have a difficult time meeting the needs of children with the resources we have now."

In their submission to the ministry on the subject of all-day kindergarten, the B.C. School Trustees Association raised similar concerns.

"We believe strongly that any expansion of early learning programs must be adequately resourced so as not to diminish existing education programs in any way," wrote Connie Denesiuk, president of the trustees association.