B.C. school trustees want the provincial government to delay its implementation of full-day kindergarten in the province because they're worried about the cost. But the government is going ahead with the plan.
The B.C. Ministry of Education will phase in full-day kindergarten starting next fall, one the few new programs the government of Premier Gordon Campbell promised in its September budget.
It's a program trustees support, but they're asking for a delay until they can be convinced the money is there, according to the president of the B.C. School Trustees Association, Connie Denesiuk.
The call for a delay came in the form of a motion passed Sunday at a Vancouver meeting of the trustee association's provincial council.
"What trustees are saying, what provincial councillors have come together to say, is when we do this, let's make sure we do it right," Denesiuk said Monday.
The government has promised more than $150 million over the next two years to get full-day kindergarten off the ground.
Ministry officials say it's all new money, but Denesiuk remains skeptical.
"We haven't seen evidence that [the money is] not just moved from another area. We see flat lines," she said.
B.C. NDP education critic Robin Austin says school districts are already stretched, and they can't afford another program.
"What you see in the trustees vote this weekend is the trustees' frustration coming to a boil," said Austin.
But the government says the program is a go, and by the end of this year it will decide which B.C. schools will be the first to get full-day kindergarten.
via www.cbc.ca
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