When the B.C. government announced this month it was cutting off gaming grants for adult sports and arts groups, Housing and Social Development Minister Rich Coleman said it was to save money while maintaining programs for young people and the disabled.
Then schools and daycares began receiving notices that there would no longer receive grants to build playgrounds, and opposition critics were quick to pounce. In the legislature last week, NDP leader Carole James said 800 community groups have lost their grants from lottery and casino revenue.
"At a time when the government is bringing in more gaming money than ever before, the B.C. Liberals are taking away from community grants to groups and organizations around this province, a $36 million cut from 2008 levels," James said. "When did taking money away from kids' playgrounds become a priority for this government?"
Coleman said $4 million in gaming grants was given out between 2007 and 2009, paying for 250 school playgrounds. That program has ended after two years, "as was planned," he said.
School parent advisory councils have had their funding restored to $20 per student for the coming year, and that money can be used to provide playgrounds if the parents wish, Coleman added. District parent advisory councils also see their annual grant go from $1,250 to $2,500, and they can also use that for playgrounds.
With casinos around the province added to lotteries and traditional bingo parlours, the B.C. government now takes in more than $1 billion a year from gambling. Coleman's ministry has capped the share of that to be used for community grants at $120 million, with the rest going to support increased per-pupil education funding, another $2 billion for health care, and social assistance payments that have risen by $120 million due to last year's recession.
NDP housing and social development critic Shane Simpson said the loss of gaming grants is particularly hard on non-profit child care centres.
"We have a government that on one hand said early childhood education is a priority, and on the other hand cuts those grants for organizations with very tight budgets," Simpson said. "Five or six thousand dollars makes the difference on what you get for snacks."
Extending kindergarten to full days over the next two years is one reason the B.C. government expects to run a $1.7 billion deficit in the fiscal year that begins April 1.
"I think the government's making the decision about how embarrassed they are about their mismanagement of the economy as it's reflected in the size of the deficit, and they're prepared to cut pretty much anything to try to manage the size of that deficit," Simpson said.
When the government was running a surplus in 2007, it gave $2.5 million to the Rick Hansen Foundation for a program called Let's Play. The education ministry says the program has funded playgrounds for 22 schools and 25 municipal and community organizations.
Another $1 million was given to the B.C. Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils in 2007. The ministry says it was earmarked for playgrounds and 66 elementary and middle schools received grants for new or refurbished facilities.
B.C. government won’t divulge details of preschool plan
It’s been more than two years since the B.C. government first mentioned a plan to offer preschool for three- and four-year-olds as part of its drive to improve literacy provincewide, but parents still know little about what’s in store.
While the Liberals insist they’re committed to offering the service, they’ve refused to divulge details, except to say they want to work with the private sector to open neighbourhood preschools in the next five years. An Education Ministry spokesman said plans will likely be unveiled later this year.
For now, the ministry’s focus is on its rollout of full-day kindergarten, beginning this fall when spaces will be available in public schools for half the province’s five-year-olds. By September 2011, full-day kindergarten is expected to be an optional program in every school, replacing the half-day program.
The government’s silence, meanwhile, about its vision for preschool is feeding worries among those who don’t want to see three- and four-year-olds in school. Some insist that public money should be spent instead on high-quality child care, which is in short supply.
“We agree with all-day kindergarten [for five-year-olds], but we have to work really hard to keep it play-based and child-centred,” Irene Lanzinger, president of the B.C. Teachers’ Federation, said in an interview. “Before [age] five, we should have high-quality, accessible child care. That should be the priority.”
Sharon Gregson, a child care advocate and Vancouver school trustee, agrees. She said the term “preschool” generally refers to programs that are offered a few times a week for a couple of hours a day, and Vancouver already has an abundance of such services. What’s desperately needed is full-day, quality child care, she said, noting that those facilities have massive wait-lists. “Working parents don’t need part-time, part-day service,” she added.
While congratulating the government for acknowledging the importance of early learning, Gregson said it’s well past time the Liberals explained where they’re heading rather than simply dropping vague comments about early learning in two throne speeches and a budget and leaving the public in the dark. “It’s so difficult to know what the heck they’re talking about,” she said.
After first mentioning full-day kindergarten and preschool in February 2008, the government struck an internal agency to review the issue, consult the public and report back. It found broad public support for full-day kindergarten for four- and five-year-olds, but mixed views about sending three-year-olds to school.
Although the agency said it was clear that pre-kindergarten programs are intended to be “play-based, holistic and developmentally appropriate,” many still expressed concerns that the programs would be too academic and too structured.
Teachers share that concern, Lanzinger said.
The key ingredients of any preschool program, according to the early-learning agency, are choice, quality and staged implementation that will allow proper preparations. The benefits for children include improvements in reading, writing, math, social development, work habits, motor skills and performance on standardized tests, its report says.
The agency suggested that new preschools could involve existing preschool and child care providers and said parents should be offered early learning with wraparound child care.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 233
- 234
- 235
- 236
- 237
- …
- 507
- Next Page »