Among the biggest highlights of the new public school term in September will be the intake of more than 21,000 full-time kindergarten students throughout B.C.
About 554 five-year-olds in Prince George SD 57 will be among those participating in full-day school - the B.C. government's latest move in public education.
Education minister Margaret MacDiarmid said although it is an optional program "we have lots of evidence to support the benefits of full-time kindergarten regarding success and being able to thrive in school."
During a Tuesday conference with northern B.C. media MacDiarmid added the play-based learning has shown better graduation rates and greater numbers going on to post secondary training.
The 2010-2011 students, to be housed in existing space, include "just over half" of children eligible in B.C.
The remaining half who will enter programs in the fall of 2011 will have newly developed space expected to be created over the next year, and will bring the total to about 40,000, MacDiarmid said.
Her good news regarding northern concerns about funding or possible closures of schools in rural areas is that "supplementary funding" for schools coping with remoteness, weather conditions and other unique geographic conditions will be increased next year to $160 million from $143 million this year, and that policy changes to improve situations are under consideration.
Recognizing School District 57's recent budget shortfall of more than $5 million that's expected to increase by a further $9 million by 2014, she pointed out the Prince George district is "one of the hardest hit school districts in terms of enrollment decline" with a 25-per-cent decrease totalling about 4,500 students since 2000.
Yet MacDiaramid says the funding from government has remained stable. Today the funding for each student in SD 57 is up by about 32 per cent.
Pat Bell, MLA for Prince George North, told The Citizen the difficulty arises because the school district was developed for about 21,000 students now expected to total 13,555 next school term.
"The infrastructure is far larger than needed and as well, there is always pressure for districts to provide ongoing incremental services," Bell said.
When asked if rural taxpayers should pay extra for public schooling, she said that is not a considered solution due to creating inequitable tax bases across the province.
"We would like the education experience to be as equitable as it can be whether students are in Vancouver or a rural area," said MacDiarmid, an advocate of neighborhood learning centres where added community use of schools with services like day cares or senior centres help pay the maintenance costs.
