Peel board draws line on full-day kindergarten
April 22, 2010
Kristin Rushowy
EDUCATION REPORTER
Peel’s public school board says it will not run a deficit for full-day kindergarten and has voted to only offer the number of classes it can afford starting in 2011.
In the latest volley from school boards concerned about inadequate funding for the biggest change to education in a generation, trustees at the Peel District School Board say they are already shortchanged when it comes to general funding levels.
“Because of the funding gap we are experiencing we have no other monies to subsidize this new program,” said Chair Janet McDougald.
The ministry’s massive undertaking to usher in full-day kindergarten to all Ontario schools by 2015 begins this fall for 35,000 students at 600 schools. The program is to be taught by a teacher and early childhood educator, with before- and after-school care that parents pay for.
When fully implemented, the province has said it will cost $1.5 billion a year, and it has provided $200 million for this fall, and $300 million in 2011-12.
But Peel staff have no idea how much the program for 4- and 5-year-olds is actually going to cost “so this is simply a safeguard — not a threat,” McDougald added.
The trustees’ decision, voted on last week, means if the board is running a deficit for full-day kindergarten by the end of the first phase in the 2010-11 school year, that money will first be deducted from funding for 2011-12.
“We think that probably it is not (fully funded) based on the information we have, but we don’t have full, specific information from the province,” McDougald added. “But, for instance, funding the salaries and benefits of early childhood educators, we believe that we’ll have to pay more” than the average wage the province provides.
She is also unsure if increased special education costs will be included in the full-day funding, or wages for lunchroom supervisors.
“We’re worried a little bit about lunchroom supervision — it’s a whole different ball game when you are supervising 3- and 4-year-olds for lunch,” said McDougald. “We’ve never done it before.”
Michelle Despault, spokesperson for Education Minister Leona Dombrowsky, said any boards encountering troubles should be in touch with the ministry’s early learning division.
The program, she noted, is the first of its kind “and it’s not surprising that things still need to be worked out in the first year.”
Despault also said the salary allotment for early childhood educators was based on a “rate that was reasonable and comparable” to wages in and outside of the education sector.
Boards are right now finalizing lists of schools that will offer the program in 2011, which the ministry will approve before the end of May.
Bruce Davis, chair of the Toronto District School Board, said early indications are that it will break even with full-day kindergarten, although his board too pays early childhood educators more than the province will provide. He is also unsure if additional special education costs have been accounted for.
The Peel board has complained for the last decade it is unfairly funded for its growing population given the province was using outdated census information.
And even though updated data will now be used, the extra $12 million a year Peel is entitled to is being phased in over four years, starting with $3 million this fall and increasing by $3 million a year. So instead of receiving $48 million over that time, Peel will get $30 million.