Comox

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Comox Valley Echo: Board chair gives blast to minister

June 25, 2010

Marcel Tetrault, Comox Valley Echo

The local school board chair attacked the provincial education minister in a politically charged speech made at the board table on Tuesday.

Susan Barr made the comments during a discussion over several recommendations the B.C. School Trustees Association is forwarding to the provincial Ministry of Education.

The board agreed to support the BCSTA, but Barr said she was not very confident that Minister Margaret MacDiarmid would listen.

“Trustees are not cheap bureaucrats,” said Barr. “We are actually elected by the people in our communities to protect public education for our children. We know our communities well, we live in our communities and we’re connected to them.

“We need to make sure that all kids, regardless of their socioeconomic background, their family status, achieve learning success in our schools.”

The BCSTA report recommends that the ministry review the co-governance model, which governs how the ministry and local school boards share responsibilities for delivering public education.

“We are ready to participate with the government in such a model,” said Barr. “But I’m not sure the government has actually been willing or ready to listen to what we have to say.”

For example, Barr said that at a March meeting between Vancouver Island board chairs and MacDiarmid, the minister said that ‘master teachers’ was an area in which she had an interest.

Barr said she informed MacDiarmid’s staff that there were some innovative things happening in the Valley with respect to master teachers. She’d be happy to provide information about the program, she said. There was no response.

“We’ve invented the wheel,” said Barr. “She doesn’t really need to reinvent it. We’re offering the blueprints to our wheel for free, and she just doesn’t seem to be listening. It’s frustrating.” Read more

Comox Valley Echo: School district anticipating a small surplus instead of a deficit

June 4, 2010

Marcel Tetrault, Comox Valley Echo

The school district’s projected deficit of $325,000 for this school year has transformed into a $274,000 surplus.

School board secretary treasurer Len Ibbs said the almost $600,000 turnaround was due to extra revenue as well as a small reduction in expenses. The extra revenue came mainly through provincial grants and BC Hydro funds.

“That’s where we’ll end the year, hopefully,” said Ibbs, referring to the surplus. “That’s the kind of good news side of it.”

The kind of bad news side of it is that the board projects a $720,000 deficit for the 2010/11 school year. That is after the $1.2 million in staffing cuts agreed in January that go into effect in September.

Interestingly, while there will be fewer staff next year, the total bill for their services will be higher — just over $32 million, or 43.1 per cent of the district’s entire budget, went to teacher salaries in 2009/10. Next year, that figure rises to $32.7 million, or 43.5 per cent of the budget — a $675,000 increase. Read more

Comox Valley Record: School district still cutting programs, teachers

By Lindsay Chung, Comox Valley Record

March 18, 2010

School District 71 is receiving a slight increase in provincial operating funding for next year, but that won’t mean relief for budget cuts the district has already made.

The Ministry of Education announced Monday that school districts will receive $4.664 billion in operating grants next year — a $112-million increase over 2009-10.

The increase includes $54 million to fully fund the teachers’ wage settlement and $58 million to fully fund the implementation of all-day kindergarten, according to a news release from the government.

Average per-pupil funding is also expected to increase by an estimated $105 in 2010-11, noted the ministry.

“It looks to be a bit better news than we anticipated by about $300,000,” said Len Ibbs, the school district’s secretary-treasurer. “In a $70-million-plus budget, this isn’t a great variation.” Read more

Contact local MLA

MLA Don McRae, Comox Valley (BC Liberal)