Full-day kindergarten initiative delayed: Education minister says 'massive undertaking' will likely be phased in
Times Colonist
By JEFF BELL
February 5, 2009

Education Minister Shirley Bond has quashed hopes for full-day kindergarten in B.C. classrooms this September.

The shift needs to be approached gradually because of the huge costs and logistics, Bond said.

"I'm sure there will be some disappointment for parents who would have loved to have seen every child in the province lining up for all day 'K' this September," she said. "The reality of the work we've done has shown us that that's not possible for us and we have to look at a phased approach to this."

The possibility of full-day kindergarten was raised in a throne speech by the government last February.

The Early Childhood Learning Agency was formed to do a comprehensive study of the issue. The agency is still finalizing a report that was slated for completion at the end of 2008.

Bond said the government has made it clear over the past months that going from half- to full-day kindergarten would be "a massive undertaking," requiring an estimated 1,000 new teachers.

"We have issues with staffing, we have issues with space and the appropriate type of space," said Bond, adding all-day kindergarten and proposed programs for three- and four-year-olds would cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

"So I have to work within the fiscal parameters that we're facing, but I also want to see the incremental progress."….

Claire Trevena, the NDP's early-childhood development critic, said parents were given false hope because there hasn't been enough clarity from the government on what is happening. "People trying to plan what they're going to do are left in the lurch."

She said some parents will now be scrambling to arrange a half-day of child care for their kindergartners, at a time when child care can be difficult to find.

Most kindergarten classes are half day, but some are full-day sessions. According to 2006 statistics, 5,600 of 35,000 students in kindergarten were in full-day programs.

Full-day programs are in place for aboriginal, English-as-a-second-language and special-needs students.