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Education Minister Everett Hindley says he is “very grateful” for a family foundation’s multi-million-dollar offer to keep full-day kindergarten going five days a week in Saskatoon, but he won’t commit to accepting it.
The Brownlee Family Foundation has pledged to donate $10 million to keep the program going, but only if the province matches the money.
Saskatchewan’s NDP Opposition is urging the government to accept.
Hindley said conversations are ongoing over the implications of accepting the gift, though he praised the full-day kindergarten program in Saskatoon Public Schools.
“I haven’t heard a definitive no from the minister, but I haven’t seen any indication that they’re saying yes,” NDP education critic Matt Love said at a news conference in Saskatoon earlier Wednesday.
“So what I’m saying today is I’m calling on the minister to say yes, to say thank you to Mr. [Wayne] Brownlee and all of the generous donors from the [Saskatoon Public Schools Foundation], and to get to work to ensure that these services are maintained.”
Love said the full-day kindergarten program operates in 29 classrooms in 26 schools in the Saskatoon public school division. The foundation has provided funds for the full-day kindergarten program in some schools for five years.
Saskatchewan NDP Opposition education critic Matt Love speaks at a news conference in Saskatoon about a $10-million donation to help fund full-day kindergarten in the Saskatoon public school system. (Don Somers/CBC)
The $10-million donation is intended to help keep the program going for another five years. The foundation has heralded the program as a significant contributor to success for students.
Love expressed disappointment that the Saskatchewan Party government did not include matching funds for the donation in its March 18 budget.
Zeba Ahmad, the foundation’s CEO, called full-day, Monday-to-Friday kindergarten the “gold standard” for early education in an interview on CBC Saskatchewan’s The 306 on Friday.
Ahmad pointed out Saskatchewan is one of two provinces in Canada without full-day, all-day kindergarten throughout the education system. Alberta is the other province.
About a quarter of students in Saskatchewan fail to graduate, Ahmad said, and the province’s literacy rate is declining.
“So this is about investing in the early years,” Ahmad told The 306.
Love pointed out Hindley was the health minister in 2023 when the province rejected a donation of $2 million to fund an MRI machine in Estevan, which sparked a public outcry.
The province later backtracked on that decision.