Wild Rose School Division (WRSD) is discontinuing its full-time kindergarten program in Drayton Valley starting in the 2027-2028 school year.
The WRSD Board made the decision during its meeting on Oct. 20, following a presentation by the director and coordinator of student support services.
Division Superintendent Jodie Mattia says the decision came down to cost and equity.
She explains that, as full-time kindergarten programming is optional, the Government of Alberta only funds it as a part-time program. To supplement this, the division charges parents a fee in addition to using funding from its instructional budget.
Despite these efforts, “the program over the last several years has run a deficit, and that deficit continues to increase,” Mattia comments.
Enrolment in the program has also decreased in recent years, with families needing to choose between kindergarten and daycare, which has extended hours. The division has particularly seen a drop in rural enrolment, which it partially attributes to declining birth rates as well.
Although it was a difficult decision to end the program, Mattia says it will benefit students across the division.
“That would mean the funds that have been supplemented will be able to go back into that instructional budget, which will support complexity throughout the school division,” she explains. Depending on a school’s needs, that could mean additional educational assistants, more teachers to address classroom sizes, family wellness workers, and more.
The division was also presented with research indicating that early gains in learning beginning in kindergarten become less pronounced around the ages of seven to eight, suggesting the benefits level out.
Mattia also referred to research about the importance of free play; while their programming does include time for play, the setting is naturally more structured than a home or daycare environment.
Drayton Valley is also the only community the full-time programming is offered in, and bringing it to every community would be too costly with the current funding structure, Mattia comments.
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