Surrey parents rally to keep StrongStart program operating in the city

Time is running out on a popular, free program that is at risk of being cut in Surrey. Parents are gathering to rally on Monday to show the provincial government how important StrongStart is to the community.

The early education program helps children up to the age of five with their language skills, social, emotional, physical, and cognitive abilities.

However, Surrey Schools says StrongStart is running on a critical deficit.

“We all know inflation, the cost of running the program, the salaries, the administration of the program all have increased,” said Anne Whitmore, president of the Surrey District Parent Advisory Council.

Cindy Dalglish, an education advocate, tells CityNews there are 25 StrongStart operations in Surrey, and due to the financial crunch, the program may be cancelled completely, or six to eight will stick around — neither of which would meet the needs of the province’s fastest growing community.

“The biggest impact in Surrey specifically is there are a lot of new immigrants, families who are coming here that haven’t built a community around them yet and this is their first attempt and opportunity to start building that community.”

She believes StrongStart, which is a precursor to kindergarten, is also crucial to setting children up for success once they enter the school system.

“This is the first look at a child’s development and to see where they’re at and flag any potential need for assessment for preparing for kindergarten.”

Other advocates for the program say there are a lot of new immigrant families that use the program because it’s a way to start building a community.

Susan Bhatti, senior manager of DIVERSECity Child & Family Services, says the program is an important foundation of learning before children start school.

“A lot of our families are newcomers and refugees to Canada, and they depend on the StrongStart programs because they can’t afford private education to send their kids to,” Bhatti said.

Ravi Mangat, a parent, says it also fills a critical gap in the availability of daycare.

“There’s no daycares currently available or any preschools. And preschools that we did get accepted into, they are pretty expensive,” Mangat said.

Mangat says her own daughter — who was born during the pandemic — has developed her social skills through the program and learned how to play with others.

Currently, the provincial government only partially funds StrongStart, and Dalglish hopes that changes.

“The funding hasn’t been increased for StrongStart since 2008,” she explained. “What we’re trying to do is apply as much pressure as we can on the province to fund this completely.”

“Right now, the Surrey School District is pulling from the Ready, Set, Learn program and they can no longer keep doing that.”

The Ministry of Education and Child Care didn’t commit to fully funding the program when it responded to a CityNews request last month.

The ministry said at that time that it provides over $10 million per year to B.C. school districts’ budgets that operate the program. It added it has been “steadily” increasing districts operating budgets since 2017, with almost $8 billion allocated for 2024/25.

“There’s a huge need for [StrongStart]. There’s a huge desire for this,” stressed Dalglish.

She says a decision on the program needs to be made in the next couple of weeks.

“Contractually, the early childhood educators have to be given a certain number of day’s notice and I can’t remember the exact date it has to be by, but let’s say it’s the third week of April, otherwise they’ll be voiding the contract as it currently stands.”

A petition is also underway to prevent the program from being pulled.

The Surrey School Board will be meeting on Wednesday evening.

“It’s rare the Surrey Teachers’ Association and CUPE banding together in support of a program within the district. This is a really big deal.”

Monday’s event is slated to begin at 11:30 a.m. at the Surrey Teachers Association at 9030 King George Boulevard.

–With files from Angleyna Mintz, Kate Walker and Charlie Carey