2008 BC Sham “Public Consultation” Process (broken link)

“Stakeholders” list excludes public and parents. (Download PDF here) Government’s list of groups consulted and/or invited to participate in secretive “public” consultation: daycare lobbyists, public sector unions, school-tied professionals, and businesses are favoured with invitations while parents are not.

Deadline extended to August 15 for submissions to BC Early Learning Agency on all-day schooling for 3 to 5 year olds: Ministry of Education news release, July 18 (broken link) (original deadline)

Biased Consultation (Kids First update): All five “Experts in the Field of Early Childhood Education” listed by the BC Government for the consultation are from HELP (Human Early Learning Partnership), including Hillel Goelman, HELP Director and author of the 2007 Vancouver Sun article describing and demanding all day schooling for ages 3-5

“Research” the BC government is using in all-day schooling consultation: The list provided by the Ministry of Education at our request reveals a great deal of material by daycare lobbyists and their organizations, most of it not peer reviewed (M. Friendly, J. Beach, Cleveland, Krashinsky, G. Doherty, J. Bertrand, L. Anderson, Hillel Goelman, Alan Pence, HELP, RAND, OECD, F. Mustard, McCain, P. Kershaw , R. Mahon, Perry Preschool, etc).

Is the BC government responding to KF’s complaint of secrecy in consultation process? See article in The Province: Earlier start and full-day kindergarten being considered (broken link)

BC Government press release (broken link) re: consultation on all-day schooling for 3-5 year olds (after Kids First reported there has been no press release)

Is full-day schooling for ages 3-5 a foregone conclusion? The UBC body promoting more institutional child care announces “Universal ‘Child Care’ Coming” before the so called “consultation” has even taken place or the “agency” to discuss it has been formed. Read more (Kids First article).

June 27, 2008 Press Release (Kids First article): BC government conducting secret “public” consultations

Unpublicized public consultation by the BC government in response to the proposed full day schooling for ages 3-5. The “consultation” paper is vague on any specifics (example: no information on costs, research is mentioned but not actually named, “high quality” is not defined) and highly biased in favour of expanding tax-funded schooling to very young children.

• Feb 29, 2008: Kids First letter BC Minister of Education requesting to be involved in consultation on full day schooling for ages 3-5

• Mar 4, 2008: BC Ministry of Education response to Kids First request for equitable parental participation in talks on full-day schooling for ages 3-5
• July 2, 2008: Kids First Requests names of “stakeholders” invited to all-day schooling consultations,
• July 15, 2008: Ministry of Education reply does not provide list of those invited to consultation or list of those involved in ECLC
• July 20, 2008: BC Ministry of Education response to Kids First request to know who is on the Early Childhood Learning Agency does not name “parent groups” or “stakeholders” involved

Bias: All-Day K for 3-5 Pushed by the BC Government Top Advisers Far in Advance

• All-Day Schooling for Ages 3 to 5? (Kids First Article)

• Feb 13, 2008. Times – Colonist – article (PDF): The B.C. government yesterday floated the possibility of all-day kindergarten for children as young as three by 2012

• UBC’s Human Early – HELP – Pushes for Universal All day Preschool, Vancouver Sun Sept 2007: (broken link) HELP has 3 members the BC Provincial Child Care (daycare) Council and considerable policy influence. WARNING: misrepresentation of evidence, costs/benefits based on inapplicable Perry Preschool findings, confusing use of terms “high quality,” “child care,” and “preschool”

• HELP announces ‘Universal “Child Care” Coming’ yet the Education Minister says full-day K for age 3 to 5 is just an idea they are planning to explore. So is it a done deal with no parent consultation?
  February 2008. Human Early Learning Partnership – email listserv: HELP Listserv news

• Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP) family/child policy document (broken link) This is being studied by all BC MLAs. It was written by HELP Director Dr Clyde Hertzman (epidemiologist with the World Bank), and HELP staff: Dr Paul Kershaw (sociologist), Ms Lynelle Anderson (accountant and former staff of Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada), and Dr Bill Warburton (economist).