Kindergarten will go all day: Province plans to implement the new schedule by fall 2010
By Robert Barron
Daily News
August 27, 2009

The B.C. government's plan to implement all-day kindergarten for five-year-olds by the fall of 2010 is being greeted cautiously in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district.

…. "We're already stretched financially so we're anticipating the ministry will cover the costs of the program. There's also issues around the extra staffing that will be required and whether we'll have the facilities in place to deal with it."

The throne speech offered few details except to say that full-time kindergarten will begin in the fall of 2010. Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid said it will be introduced in stages, although she wasn't able to say how many schools would be ready to offer it by next year.

"We will make as much of a splash as we can. It's so important and it is a priority for government," she said in an interview.

…. Although the B.C. Teachers' Federation has been advocating all-day kindergarten for five-year-olds since 1990, president Irene Lanzinger said she would rather it not proceed at this time.

"The rest of the system is so underfunded," she said. "We want to see the government move to all-day kindergarten but not at the expense of other programs."