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Home My WebLink AboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 2009-11-25, Page 25Goderich Signal -Star, Wednesday, November 25, 2009 - Page 25 Early Learning Program comes with a hefty price tag Last month, Premier McGuinty rolled out his promised, long awaited full-day Kindergarten program. It is not called Kindergarten any longer and more broadly resembles a much more scaled down learning pro- gram than was initially recommended in the report commissioned by the gov- ernment from Charles Pascal. In tandem with the Early Learning Program's (ELP) announcement, school boards were issued memos from the Ministry informing them of proposed board by board allocation of funding and site selection criteria. The Ministry instructed boards to plan where the first Early Learning Pro- grams will be held and to report back to the Ministry that information in addi- tion to how the decision was made. Taxpayers are split on whether the $1.5 billion dollar price tag is a wise move at a time when the province con- tinues to run up a massive deficit. Those who support the Early Learn- ing Program tell us that there's no time like the present for children to get a head start on learning under the public school umbrella. The benefits of early learning are widely known. Those who hesitate to support the program worry about whether at this time that $1.5 billion dollars is better used to pare down those hospital emergency wait times, or to invest in assist- ing communities hard hit by the economic downturn to get back on their feet again. Worrisome still is that the $1.5 billion expenditure doesn't include the cost of building expansion or the sup- port network of a dedicated early years division within the Ministry. The provincially -funded program is especially concerning to small school boards and communities where the ripple effects of implementing the new program might affect the continued success of home-based and municipal day cares. It might, if not handled well, pose challenges. "While it's still too early to project the effect the Early Learning Program might have on the town's daycare, we're keeping on top of the updates as they are made available to us," ensured Larry McCabe. Avon Maitland District School Board director Chuck Reid said that last week our two local school boards, Best Start representatives and those from munici- pal youth and child services met to come up with an agree- ment as to which schools in the area are best suited to offer the early learning program. The sites piloting the pro- gram will be unveiled at the AMDSB's November 24 meeting. If all goes as planned boards will add ten ELP classes for the 2010-2011 school year, with five more classes added in 2011-2012. Both provincial opposition parties are doing their jobs raising their party's concerns. The Ontario Progressive Conserva- tives wonder why the Early Learning Program wasn't featured in the 2009 budget and whether Dalton McGuinty intends to pay for the program on the backs of Ontarians through the pro- posed Harmonized Sales Tax? The provincial NDP have voiced their doubts about the program being rolled out any time soon. It could take as long as 10 years before the Early Learning Program is offered in all school com- munities. Once initiated, the program could definitely benefit those families who choose to use them in our commu- nity. My concern is that this program speaks more to the larger, urban boards than it does to small town and rural boards in which the demographics and need may differ substantially from those of urban commuter families. What this will mean to our small school community and school board as it moves forward sounds like good news if we can be flexible. So where does that leave us? Finalized funding and what it means to our boards not yet known. What the curriculum for the full-day program will contain is still a work in progress, and who between elementary teachers and early childhood educators will deliver which part of the program is being ironed out. It appears that early learning in On- tario is shaping up to be a wait-and-see initiative. Ontario families are becoming very skilled at waiting. Let's just hope what they see as a final product is going to be worth the wait. We can be grateful that in Goderich we have quality people looking out for the developmental and learning success of our youngest learners. 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