Early-age kindergarten debate on hold for now
Victoria News
By Roszan Holmen
January 15, 2009

Parents are anxious to see official report

The report was due in December, but mum’s the word on kindergarten for three- to five-year-olds.

The wait has some parents and childcare advocates nervous.

Among them is mother of two, Jeannie Owens-Wallace.

“Why are we not talking about this?” asked Owens-Wallace, a freelance writer who contributes to the Victoria News. “All (our) worries could be allayed if they released this report with a lot of transparency beforehand so we can pick it apart.”

If the government withholds the information until June with the intention of launching a new program in the fall, parents won’t get their say, she said.

“It’s being finalized,” said Education Ministry spokesman Scott Sutherland.

Last February, Education Minister Shirley Bond announced plans to consider extending half-day kindergarten to full-day by 2009, and expanding the program to include three and four year olds by 2010 and 2011, respectively.

In July, she appointed the Early Childhood Learning Agency to study the proposal and prepare a report by the end of the year.

The report, said Sutherland, is being reviewed, but nothing’s being said about when it will be released to the public.

Universal childcare could be a huge relief for many families who can’t afford childcare or who can’t find available care….