All-day K nipped in the bud; Trustees strongly object to idea of parents paying for access to education system
Cowichan Valley Citizen
February 20, 2009
By: Lexi Bainas

The Cowichan Valley School District will not explore the idea of trying to offer parents the option of full-day Kindergarten by making them pay for it.

Trustees have been asking the provincial government to allow a pilot project here so officials can assess the value and success of full-day Kindergarten and were still hoping to hear something positive until the budget came out this week.

They have discovered that no movement on full-day Kindergarten will come from the province for at least two years.

Trustee Barb De Groot said that there was a motion on the Board of Education's books to explore the possibility of offering it on a fee for service basis, but when she suggested following up, her colleagues dug in their heels.

"We're opposed to paying for access to education," said Board Chair Ann Andersen and Trustees Candace Spilsbury and Julie Thomas agreed, saying that a free full-day program was what they wanted to look at, not some way for the government to get out of paying.

"It gives the wrong message," Spilsbury said.

Trustee Cathy Schmidt said she had tested the waters with parents at the District Parent Advisory Council.

"Paying as you go is not going to fly," she said.