CTV Toronto has learned that 35,000 children will be in the first wave of full-day kindergarten next September.

Ontario's Premier Dalton McGuinty is to make an official announcement on Tuesday at an East Toronto school.

The province plans to phase in the program, which is for four- and five-year-old children, across the province by 2015.

The program is budgeted to cost $200 million in the first year and $300 million in its second year.

The NDP has called on the government to delay implementation to deal with the deficit and avoid cuts to other government services such as health care.

In its fall economic update, the government revealed last week that Ontario is facing a projected $24.7-billion deficit for the current budget year.

The government has said it won't table a plan for fighting the deficit until it delivers its next provincial budget (this year's budget was delivered on March 26).

Finance Minister Dwight Duncan said on Oct. 22 that the core priorities for the government are health care, education, job creation and the establishment of a strong post-recession economy.

With files from CTV Toronto's Paul Bliss