children playing

Commission on the reform of Ontario's public services (The Drummond report)

Printer-friendly versionSend by emailPDF version
Author: 
Drummond, Don
Format: 
Report
Publication Date: 
15 Feb 2012

See "Chapter 6: The affordability of full-day kindergarten" (p. 213). Recommendations 6-11 & 6- 12.

Recommendation 6-11: Given the difficulties with such an approach, and the prohibitive cost of the program overall at this time, the Commission recommends cancellation of the full-day kindergarten (FDK) program, without prejudice to schools that already had FDK before the introduction of this government strategy.

The Ministry of Education should carefully develop phase-out provisions so that a child who had a full day in junior kindergarten would not move to a half day in senior kindergarten, and so that purpose-built spaces are appropriately utilized for child care.

Recommendation 6-12: If the government decides to continue the implementation of the full-day kindergarten program, then the Commission recommends delaying full implementation from 2014-15 to 2017-18 and reducing program costs by adopting a more affordable staffing model, involving one teacher for about 20 students, rather than a teacher and an early childhood educator for 26 students, to help moderate salary expenditures for the program by about $200 million. The government should not confirm full implementation of the program without assurances from school boards, teacher federations and support-staff unions that negotiated annual wage increases by 2017-18 will not be higher than the current trends in the broader public sector, and that the class-size increases and reductions in non-teaching staff contemplated by the Commission by 2017-18 will be achieved.

This approach would also help ease the oversupply of teachers in the labour market and reduce costs associated with correcting the current undersupply of ECEs.

...

To see how child care figures in the Commission's report, you can search 'child care' in the pdf document. Child care is considered a "discretionary social program" (p. 271), listed under "other social programs" in chapter 8: Social services and recieves 20 mentions in the full report. (Note: Child care was moved to the Ministry of Education in 2010)

Related links:

Waiting for Drummond: The play Video [4:20]

Full-day kindergarten never at risk

Drummond Commission: Taking Ontario out of commission

Cash-strapped Ontario won't scrap full-day kindergarten: Duncan

Don't cut all-day kindergarten, parents and educators say

Region: