Photo: courtesy of Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan

“We want people to reach out to the Minister of Education, to the Premier because its going to come from there. When they see the importance and when they share that importance with government hopefully, we can continue this year at Saskatoon Public and expand it to wherever its needed.”

That from Saskatoon Public Schools Foundation (SPSF) CEO Zeba Ahmad who says local philanthropist Wayne Brownlee and the Brownlee Family Foundation have committed $10 million to an educational initiative contingent on a matching investment from the Government of Saskatchewan.

She says the incremental cost for full-day, every day kindergarten is $5,000 for one child, once.

“And if you can get a certain amount of those kids out of the justice, social services – not that this is the answer to everything – but it is the best investment we can make and the other thing is we are one of two provinces that does not fund full-day, every day kindergarten.”

Ahmad says a professor with the University of Toronto followed the schools involved between 2019 and 2024 and in the report issued it showed an increase in reading by 20 per cent versus half day and alternating full day kids.

She says there were four key findings that came out of that report and one of the most compelling was that kids considered at risk or not achieving the benchmarks in kindergarten, were reduced by 50 per cent.

In their news release SPSF says Saskatchewan has the third lowest literacy rates in Canada and the second highest poverty rate. As well the Foundation states that every year, more than 28 per cent of students have not achieved grade level literacy by Grade 3 which is considered a critical marker meaning kids are four times less likely to graduate if they haven’t achieved it.