Ontario’s education minister is committing to full-day kindergarten this fall — but telling parents they’ll have to “stay tuned” to find out if it will continue beyond the next school year.

“We’re consulting with our education partners in terms of what’s working and what’s not,” she told reporters during a visit to the Boys & Girls Club of East Scarborough on Galloway Rd. on Tuesday afternoon to talk about her government’s proposed child-care changes.

“We’ll be back in touch with you after our consultation has been concluded and we have worked through the data and have a report prepared to share with you.”

Last week, the Ministry of Education started discussions with teacher and support staff unions, as well as trustee associations, on potential changes to class sizes, full-day kindergarten and hiring rules. Thompson has said she wants to ensure “the best learning environment” while the province is wrestling down a deficit of up to $14.5 billion.

She was asked by reporters then about the future of full-day kindergarten, but would not speculate.

When pressed about the issue again on Tuesday, she said it would be “premature” to comment on the program which was introduced by the McGuinty Liberals almost a decade ago at a cost of $1.5 billion a year.

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“What I’m saying is this: we’re consulting with our education partners and stay tuned,” Thompson said.

“What I’m saying is I’m absolutely respecting the process of consultation. We are listening. We’re asking first, we’re listening and then we’re going to analyze the information that has come back to us,” the education minister also said.

“So it would be absolutely irresponsible to have a position before we actually have finalized our consultations. I’m sure you can appreciate that.”

The government has asked the unions and trustee groups to comment on the full-day program, class-size caps in the primary years, as well as a controversial hiring rule known as Regulation 274 that compels principals to hire supply teachers with the most seniority for long-term and permanent positions.

A ministry consultation document asks about full-day kindergarten, in particular class size — currently an average of 26 students — and the staffing model, which is a full-time teacher and full-time early childhood educator. (The exception is classes with fewer than 16 students, which can be teacher only.)

The document asks if there are “other models the ministry should consider.”

While there are other full-day models, experts have said making changes would not only upset staff but also families, who have come to depend on the popular program for 4- and 5-year-olds.

Earlier suggestions for full-day kindergarten proposed maintaining a half-day program with a teacher with early childhood educators covering the rest, including before- and after-school care, at a cost of $1 billion a year.

However the Liberals, under Dalton McGuinty, decided on an all-day teacher and early childhood education model, adding half a billion dollars annually.

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In 2012, in his report to the Liberal government, economist Don Drummond said the $1.5 billion full-day kindergarten program should be scrapped or revamped.

And during the 2014 election, former Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak proposed a teacher-only model — though drop class sizes to 20 children — to save $200 million.

Research of Ontario’s program has shown gains in children’s social, emotional and cognitive development from the Ontario full-day program, and helps catch problems early on — saving money in the future.

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