Social Policy in Ontario

The study found the program, launched almost a decade ago by the then-Liberal government, was well worth the $1.5 billion-a-year investment for academic, social and economic reasons.

That’s why it’s so alarming that the Ford government has put a question mark over the future of full-day kindergarten for 4- and 5-year-olds.

But that’s the message this week from Premier Doug Ford and Education Minister Lisa Thompson, both of whom confirmedthat the government will not commit to keeping the program beyond the next school year.

It’s understandable that the government is looking for savings to rein in the province’s deficit. But if it’s turning its gaze on full-day kindergarten, it’s looking in the wrong place.

All the available evidence suggests the benefits of full-day kindergarten for kids, parents, employers and even the economy far outweigh any cost savings the government will be able to find by cutting this program.

The OISE study, for example, found that children in the two-year, full-day learning program scored higher on reading, writing and number knowledge than those in a half-day program.

It also found those kids scored higher on self-control and the ability to deal with the stresses of life, which is predictor of long-term health, wealth and even a reduction in crime.

Another study in 2017 from the independent Centre for Spatial Economics concluded that every dollar invested in the program will generate $2.42 for the province in reduced social costs and improved health outcomes.

In other words, full-day kindergarten more than pays for itself.

Further, disrupting the program would have downsides for parents of young children — and their employers — who have come to depend on the seamless before- and after-class care that kids in now get in their school or at nearby daycare centres.

Nor is it likely that daycare providers could immediately create the spaces that would be needed if 4-year-olds, for example, were suddenly dumped back into the private daycare market.

Then there’s this: some parents who are banking on their 4- and 5-year-olds going to publicly funded kindergarten classes may have to reassess whether they can afford to continue working if they have to pay the country’s highest child care fees.

Thompson said no decision will be made on the future of full-day kindergarten until the government has completed a consultation. But her words were far from reassuring.

That’s because they come from a government that has repeatedly demonstrated that education isn’t high on its priority list for funding. It has made post-secondary schooling less affordable and less accessible by axing free tuition, made it more difficult for students to qualify for grants, and cancelled long-planned campuses in Milton, Brampton and Markham.

Sadly, it now seems to be turning its sights on full-day kindergarten. But if the government truly looks at the evidence, it shouldn’t mess with success.

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2019/01/30/dont-mess-with-success-of-full-day-kindergarten-program.html