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The Tyee: $8.1 million for education not new: Bacchus
Katie Hyslop, The Tyee
May 18, 2011
The only surprise about Education Minister George Abbott’s announcement of $8.1 million in holdback funding for the province’s 60 school districts is that it’s less money than trustees had expected.
In a press release issued this morning, the ministry announced districts would receive $8.1 million from the ministry’s holdback fund, a reserve of money for school districts in case enrolment levels are higher than anticipated, but that $3 million will be used to cover property loss insurance premiums the government used to pay for. The release estimates this will mean an increase in funding of $15 per student. Read more
The Province: Hitting schools with new costs isn’t ‘family friendly’
Editorial
May 17, 2011
Premier Christy Clark is going to have explain to British Columbians how downloading $3 million in insurance costs onto school districts fits into her “family first” ideology.
At a time when school boards around B.C. are barely able to balance their budgets — often while cutting programs for children to make ends meet — this latest insult from Victoria just isn’t fair.
In Vancouver, school board chairwoman Patti Bacchus says her district will be forced to find some $291,000 from an already tightly squeezed budget district staff have only just managed to balance after solving a $7-million funding gap with program cuts and increased fees. In Victoria, the new property-insurance bill for that district will be $125,000.
In addition, the provincial government is increasing the deductible on claims to $10,000 from $3,000, meaning further costs on boards for numerous, smaller incidents of damage.
Victoria’s self-insurance scheme for public schools has always made sense. But the new plan to download costs onto school boards is unfair, given how short they are for cash. Read more
Vancouver Sun: Carbon folly: Squeezing schools to aid energy giant
May 7, 2011
Craig McInnes, Vancouver Sun
Thursday night the Vancouver school board approved a budget that reflected the cuts necessary to close an $8.4-million funding shortfall.
Earlier in the day, the B.C. government’s Pacific Carbon Trust (PCT) announced a deal to buy 84,000 tonnes of carbon offsets from Encana, an energy company that reported net earnings of $1.5 billion in 2010 on revenues after royalties of $8.87 billion, all in U.S. dollars.
These announcements are related, because part of the money the PCT is using to buy the offsets comes from school boards, which, like other public bodies, are being required by the provincial government to reduce their own greenhouse-gas emissions enough to become carbon neutral or buy offsets to make up the difference.
The Pacific Carbon Trust is the company set up by the province to buy and sell carbon offsets. Carbon offsets are created when an organization or business, in this case Encana, is paid to reduce emissions in a manner it could not have achieved without the subsidy. That’s the theory, anyway.
The PCT won’t say how much it is paying Encana, but it is charging any organization that wants or needs offsets $25 a tonne.
The budget approved by the Vancouver school board includes $405,725 to pay for such offsets, money that board chair Patti Bacchus said Friday could have been put to better use. Read more
BC Teachers Federation: Premier must restore $275 million in education funding cuts this year
April 27, 2011
On the first day of the new legislative sitting, teachers are urging Premier Christy Clark to fully fund the smaller classes, teaching positions, and services to students with special needs that were cut after the imposition of Bills 27 and 28 in 2002.
“As Education Minister, Clark brought in legislation that was specifically designed to enable her government to take at least $275 million every year from public education. A decade later, that legislation has been found to be unconstitutional and invalid, so she needs to immediately put that funding back into schools to restore what was wrongfully cut,” said BCTF President Susan Lambert.
Lambert pointed out that right now school boards are building their budgets for the 2011-12 school year. To restore learning conditions to the levels that existed prior to the imposition of the illegal bills, boards urgently need to know that the funding will be there. And, she emphasized, there are sufficient funds available.
The transition budget introduced in February by former Finance Minister Colin Hansen included almost $1 billion in “wiggle room” to allow the new premier to put her stamp on the budget and pay for new ideas and programs. Read more
The Tyee: ESL programs swamped: Teachers’ group
Katie Hyslop, The Tyee
29 March 2011
Things have changed dramatically for English as a Second Language teachers since Sylvia Helmer left their ranks in 1997: there used to be set ratios for the number of students per teacher, there used to be money for extra supplies, and there used to be more ESL specialist teachers.
But starting in 2001, the number of ESL teachers and their resources began to shrink, according to the BC Teachers Federation. That was the year ESL services were removed from the teacher’s collective bargaining agreements, leading to the cutting of 229.54 Full Time Equivalency ESL teaching positions, says the BCTF.
That merely compounded problems with school ESL programs that Helmer says go back to when she was still in the classroom, including a lack of teacher training and pushing kids out of ESL classes before they’re ready. Read more
Canada.com: Province announces funding increase
March 14, 2011
Minister of Education Margaret MacDiarmid said the $58-million increase in educational funding will help complete the transition to full-day kindergarten, providing more flexibility and support to students and families throughout the province. Read more
Vancouver Sun: Opinion: Government’s skewed priorities on shaky ground
Pete McMartin, Vancouver Sun
February 23, 2011
Since the mid-1990s, when the conversation first began, exactly 26 of the Vancouver school board’s 101 schools identified as needing retrofits have been upgraded to comply with modern seismic standards. Another three schools have been built as replacement projects.
That is a completion rate of just under 29 per cent.
Provincially, the numbers are even lower.
In 2005, the Liberal government promised to have 750 schools rebuilt to modern seismic standards by 2020.
The count so far?
To date, 121 have been upgraded.
Meanwhile, our auditor-general warned that the $1.5 billion the Campbell government pledged to the program will be woefully inadequate to finish the job. Read more
The Report Card: School districts need more carbon-offset options: MLA
Janet Steffenhagen, Vancouver Sun
Feb 14, 2011
The B.C. government should change its rules about carbon offsets so that education dollars are not spent helping private companies become more energy efficient, an independent MLA says.
“It’s shocking to many taxpayers to learn that public dollars, which have been allocated to school districts to educate our children, are being re-directed, by government legislation, to assist resorts and greenhouses to become more energy efficient,” Bob Simpson says in a letter to John Yap, the minister of state for climate action. Read more
2010 Archives
Vancouver Sun: Want to save the public school system? Change it?
Pete McMartin, Vancouver Sun
Dec. 9, 2010
In April of this year, the Edmonton school board faced a problem very much like that of the Vancouver school board.
It had to decide whether or not to close five elementary schools.
The schools, situated in Edmonton’s older inner-city neighbourhoods, faced declining enrolments. The young families needed to sustain the schools were moving to the more affordable suburbs.
The board voted yea. The schools closed.
Five months later in the municipal elections, the voters sent the board a message. Their wrath was so great that most of the incumbent board members were either defeated or had the sense to retire before the election. Read more
October 26, 2010
George Abbott is now at the head of the class.
The veteran Shuswap MLA has been appointed education minister by Premier Gordon Campbell.
“I’m very excited. There will be daunting challenges but it will be rewarding,” he said.
A former teacher, Abbott says only the premier could clarify specifically as to why he was named education minister….
Many school districts have expressed concerns in recent years that provincial funding has not kept up with the cost of running schools. In the Vernon district, a $2.1 million deficit led to extensive cuts earlier thus year, while it was $1.6 million in North Okanagan-Shuswap.
Abbott defends the government’s record.
“I don’t believe we are under-funded in B.C.,” he said.
“The government has put an emphasis on education funding.”… Read more
The Province: A roadmap for BC kids’ future: start early and save later
Cheryl Chan The Province
October 22, 2010
Armed with a laptop and a raft of statistics, University of B.C. Prof. Paul Kershaw has been travelling across the province — a one-man road show trying to change B.C. one talk at a time.
He has one simple message: that B.C.’s early childhood vulnerability rate of 30 per cent isn’t just bad from a social standpoint, it’s a disaster from a business perspective. The many kindergarten-aged children who are struggling today represent a “brain drain” that compromises B.C.’s future human capital.
In other words, says Kershaw: “Kids who are not ready for school are less likely to be job ready.”
In 2009, the government committed to a goal of lowering vulnerability to 15 per cent by 2015. At around the same time, the Business Council of B.C. commissioned UBC’s Human Early Learning Partnership to calculate what early vulnerability will cost the economy. The findings, laid out in a policy document called 15 by 15, are compelling (the title is derived from the government’s own stated goal to reduce the child-vulnerability rate).
Tolerating today’s high vulnerability rate is equivalent to throwing away a $400-billion investment, says Kershaw… Read more
Vancouver Sun: Tiny BC commuity saves its local school – by buying it
Janet Steffenhagen, Vancouver Sun
September 30, 2010
Residents of a tiny community in northern B.C. have been fighting to save their school for months– writing e-mails, attending meetings, occupying the building after it was closed in June and even setting up a tent outside the school so their children’s education could continue close to home.
But this week, they settled on a better course of action. They’re buying Dunster Fine Arts School from the public school district. Read more
Read more debate on the broader implications of the Dunster solution on Janet Steffenhagen’s Report Card blog here and here
The Eppoch Times: Funding of school program by China raises concerns, says Teachers’ Union
By Omid Ghoreishi
September 30, 2010
The B.C. Teachers’ Federation is worried about the implications of a British Columbia school accepting funding from the Chinese regime for a bilingual Mandarin program.
The program is a pilot project at an elementary school offered at the kindergarten and grade 1 level in Coquitlam. It has received $10,000 in learning materials through an organization called Confucius Classroom, a subsidiary of Confucius Institute, an agency of the Chinese regime. Read more
Burnaby News Leader: NDP leader takes province-wide tour to Burnaby
Septemebr 14, 2010
Wanda Chow, Burnaby News Leader
Byrne Creek secondary’s students are part of the future of B.C.’s economy and an example of why the province needs to better fund education, said BC NDP leader Carole James during a tour of the South Burnaby school recently.
“The real strength this school has is having kids from all parts of the globe,” said James.
“Everybody talks about a global economy and that we all have to prepare for a global economy. What I saw in this school is the global economy is here.”
James was in Burnaby as part of a provincewide tour of schools to highlight education issues.
“To simply look at education as a cost is missing the fact that if we provide a good education for our young people, we’re investing in our future. We’re investing in a strong economy.” Read more
Vancouver Sun: Mandarin classes valuable, but don’t look to government for more funding, minister says
By Janet Steffenhagen, Vancouver Sun
September 8, 2010
Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid is enthusiastic about a new Mandarin bilingual program for young children in Coquitlam — the first of its kind in B.C. — but said the provincial government won’t be offering any money to help other districts deliver a similar service.
“It’s a language that I think will be very useful for children to have,” she said as classes got underway Tuesday. “There’s been a lineup to get into this program, so it’s a very positive program for B.C.”
While anticipating that other districts will want to follow Coquitlam’s lead, MacDiarmid said she doesn’t plan to take any action — or come up with money — to help them along. “This year, per-pupil funding is $8,300 — the highest in the history of the province. Now, it’s up to school districts to decide within that funding envelope which programs they will provide. We don’t interfere with that.” Read more
Victoria Times Colonist: Failing grades in our schools
August 14, 2010
British Columbia’s education system has handed itself a report card — and by its own measures, it includes some failing grades.
The progress report on the Education Ministry’s service plan goals could be seen as another sign that changes are needed.
Only 45 per cent of the students who responded to an annual survey said they were satisfied with career or post-secondary preparation in school. The ministry had set a target of 54 per cent, a low score, but one the system couldn’t reach. Read more
Chilliwack Times: A cyclist with a lesson
Corneila Naylor, The Times
August 6, 2010
Nearing the end of a 3,000-kilometre bike-a-thon that started in Prince Rupert on Canada Day, Tulani Ackerman was in town Thursday, talking to people, taking down ideas and filming interviews for a potential documentary.
By the time she ends her 43-day trek at the provincial legislature in Victoria Aug.12, Ackerman will have stopped in more than 35 communities to ask people what they think is working in B.C.’s school system and what isn’t.
So far her voyage of discovery–which has taken her over three mountain ranges–has turned up a lot of public discontent. Read more
Globe and Mail: Should government close our school boards
Kate Hammer, Globe and Mail Education reporter
July 16, 2010
School boards are populated with a blend of outspoken parents, aspiring city councillors and retired educators. Some hold their seats for decades and many are highly eccentric. But no one doubts they care about education.
“You definitely don’t do it for the money or the glamour,” says Catherine Fife, president of the Ontario Public School Boards Association, who has served for seven years as a trustee on the Waterloo Region District School Board.
But now trustees are in a fight for political survival. As schools struggle with dwindling enrolment numbers, a new model is taking hold, with provinces assuming many of school boards’ functions. Governments have been picking away at boards, with their salaries, office budgets, political posturing and rambling board meetings, for more than a decade. The dollars they do get come with more strings attached. Read more
Chilliwack Times: We’re spending less on schools
July 9, 2010
Dawn Steele, Letter to the Editor
University professor Dr. Lal Sharma is astonished that it costs $200,000 a year to educate an average class of 25 K-12 students in B.C. today.
Where has he been? University costs are now $25,000 a year–per student. The average Harvard university professor today earns over $200,000. Adjusted for inflation, $200,000 in 2010 buys the equivalent of $27,000 in 1960. I wonder if he has seen the price of gas lately or the price of a coffee.
Does he realize he can’t fill his tank for $10 any more and a coffee is not a nickel? Although B.C. does have the lowest minimum wage in Canada that has not been raised since 2001, we are still making a lot more than our post-war parents.
In real dollars, B.C. is actually spending less on K-12 education today than a decade ago, any way you look at it.
Adjusted for inflation, B.C.’s 2010-11 education budget of $5.1 billion is around $500 million less than the last NDP budget for education in 2000.
In 1991, 26 per cent of B.C.’s provincial budget went to education. Under both the NDP and the B.C. Liberals, that share steadily declined to 14 per cent today. Read more
The Tyee: Do BC Liberals support privatized schools?
By Linda Solomon and Emily Barca, The Vancouver Observer
July 9, 2010
Last November, the keynote speaker and “honourary chair” at the sold out annual gala for the Fraser Institute in Vancouver was Premier Gordon Campbell. Campbell’s presence at the expensive event was remarked upon by those with the perception that efforts are being made to privatize the public education system in B.C.
“If policy remains as it is, we’ll see the erosion of public education,” Paul Shaker, dean of the faculty of education at Simon Fraser University, said recently. ”We’ve already seen it in Vancouver. Eighteen per cent of school age children now attend private schools.”
“Part of the international movement of neoliberalism is to treat schools as simply another service that can be commodified and deserve no special place in society. This movement has been coming along since Thatcher and Reagan, and reached a fevered pitch over the last 10 years.” If you want to analyze why things have deteriorated in Vancouver, Shaker said, “it probably has to do with this global and political movement.”
The name of the Fraser Institute came up often in interviews with parents, teachers, administrators and academics, in discussions about the dispute between the province’s education ministry and the city’s school board over a shortfall in funds, a shortfall which school trustees said last week might very well result in the closure of five elementary schools and six annexes. Those interviewed seemed to believe that the Liberal government was carrying out a larger agenda of privatization, an agenda perceived to be supported by the policy papers and school report cards issued by the Fraser Institute. Read more
Victoria Times Colonist: The FSA tests and learning
July 8, 2010
Editorial
Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid is right. The latest results from FSA tests assessing reading, writing and numeracy skills in Grades 4 and 7 show a need for improvement.
But it’s disappointing that five years after the government committed to make B.C. “the best educated, most literate place in North America,” the minister is not putting forward specific proposals or pilot projects to address the gaps revealed — year after year — by the tests. Read more
The Province: Kamloops-Thompson School Board to introduce book deposits
VSB nixes similar measure over equity concerns
July 7, 2010
Ian Austin, The Province
The Kamloops-Thompson School Board has come up with a new, old idea in its budget battle — book deposits.
The trustees voted Monday to charge students entering high school or middle school a $50 deposit — capped at $100 per family — that would be returned if the student returns the books.
“It’s something that we’ve been looking at for a few years,” said superintendent Terry Sullivan. “We’re facing a $5.4-million deficit. We’re closing schools, we’re reconfiguring schools — so it seemed like a good time to give it a try.” Read more
Globe and Mail: Parents, students fight to keep their school
Wendy Stueck, Globe and Mail
July 1, 2010
School’s out for the summer, but not everyone has left the building.
In Dunster, B.C., a small group of parents and students has camped out in the gymnasium of the Dunster Fine Arts School to register their objection to the planned closing of the school in September.
The protest highlights the challenges school boards face in closing schools – something many boards, including the embattled Vancouver School Board, are considering in the face of declining enrolment and tight budgets.
“I think it’s important to note that school closures don’t just impact the school community,” Prince George school board chairman Lyn Hall said this week.
“If you take a look at an urban setting like Prince George, once you start to close schools within a community you impact neighbourhoods. You impact what city councils are trying to do with their official community plans. It’s not isolated to a school community or a school neighbourhood.” Read more
Omineca Express.com: Teacher travelling across BC
June 29, 2010
Over the past few months momentum for Prince Rupert teacher Tulani Ackerman’s “Steps for Students” program has been growing and now, as July 1 nears, Ackerman is preparing for her 3,000 kilometre bike and walk from Prince Rupert to Victoria to create awareness of educational issues and start discussions and take action to create a more effective system of learning for children. Read more
Vancouver Sun: Dancing education to death
June 29, 2010
Geoff Johnson
The dance to the death between Vancouver school board chairwoman Patti Bacchus and Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid will not just end when the music stops. This high profile danse macabre can only end with one or the other of the partners, or maybe both, and some of the spectators as well, being led to the political grave.
For that reason alone, somebody, or everybody, involved, should turn the music to smooth jazz and sit the dancers down.
In the case of the spectators, mainly the other 59 Boards of Education, the thing could end with the demise of the VSB and the eventual elimination, call it amalgamation if you will, of a number of other school boards. Read more
CTV News: BC schools stand empty long after closure
June 25, 2010
As school boards across the province face the prospect of closing schools over the next few years, there are limited options for what can be done with the empty buildings.
An order from the education ministry in 2008 makes it hard to sell off school buildings and the land they stand on — the government prefers to hold on to property in case it’s needed for future use.
Under the new regulations, school districts can’t sell school property without the ministry’s approval, unless the buyer is an independent school.
In 2007, the Coquitlam school district closed five schools. Since then, private schools have taken out leases on two of the buildings, but the others still stand empty.
Fleetwood Elementary in Surrey closed last year, but to date, there’s been no interest in the site from outside groups. Read more
Nanaimo Daily News: Schools face yet another big cash shortfall
Robert Barron – Daily News
June 25, 2010
Facing a shortfall that could be as high as $4 million in 2011-12, trustees and senior management in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district will begin budget deliberations on July 12.
David Murchie, chairman of the district’s business committee, said the hard decisions that had to be made in recent weeks to balance the 2010-11 budget, with a $2.8-million deficit after years of ongoing cutbacks, may be just the tip of the iceberg of difficult financial decisions that lay ahead.
Secretary treasurer David Green said it’s “too early” in the process at this stage to give an exact amount of the anticipated shortfall for 2011-12, but acknowledged it will likely be large due to the increased cost pressures the district is facing.
“We’ve gone through years of cuts and it looks like this will continue so we need to look at ways we can do things very differently. Read more
Trail Daily News: The two faces of Margaret MacDiarmid
June 18, 2010
Raymond Maskeck, Times staff
If former Rossland physician Dr. Margaret MacDiarmid was still president of the B.C. Medical Association instead of Minister of Education, she would hate the kind of cabinet minister she has become.
Back when she was lobbying for doctors, MacDiarmid thought that the basic cure for what ailed the health care system was more money, especially for her and fellow BCMA members. Read more
North Shore News: Politics trump pupils in school board spat
June 16, 2010
Elizabeth James, North Shore News
…If there are valid points to be made on any side of the Vancouver School Board-Ministry of Education-Comptroller General debate, they were hard to decipher during last week’s cross-cultural discussions of the subject.
The first culture was represented by fatigued members of the Vancouver School Board who have struggled for 18 months to deliver on their election promises despite insufficient funding.
The second is that of Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid who, nurtured in the arrogant environment of the Campbell administration, refuses to acknowledge the significant role her government has played in creating the problems.
And the third culture belongs to a broadcast media that, early last week, appeared happy enough to run vanguard for the government message — a message that focused as much on the political sympathies of VSB chairwoman Patti Bacchus as it did on the issues. Read more
Victoria Times Colonist: Making schools more responsive
June 13, 2010
A major overhaul of the public school system appears imminent as Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid continues to hint that changes are coming.
One option is to reduce the number of school boards. There are 57 in B.C. MacDiarmid might hope to economize by amalgamating smaller districts.
There has also been talk about amending the governance model, which is shorthand for limiting school board autonomy. No doubt the comptroller general’s report alleging mismanagement at the Vancouver School Board has added weight to that argument.
A review is needed. Read more
Strategic Thoughts: Political report on the VSB
David Schreck, economist & former NPD MLA
June 10,2010
The word “strategic”, usually in the context of strategic plan or strategic planning, appears 63 times in Comptroller General Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland’s 88 page report on the Vancouver School Board (VSB). Woe be it for StrategicThoughts to criticize use of the word, but the Comptroller’s report leaves much to be desired when it comes to providing any example of where other school boards have used a strategic plan to make long term decisions that would see more effective use of their available resources. It is not hard to find boards with strategic plans; it is hard to see how boards use their strategic plans to allocate resources as the plans are frequently very general. Read more
CKNW: All eyes on VSB
Sean Leslie, CKNW
June 10, 2010
The NDP’s Education critic says school trustees all over BC are watching the Vancouver story unfold with great interest, as they’re facing the same problems.Read more
Robin Austin has no doubt the Vancouver School Board will submit a balanced budget as the Government has demanded, “And I’m sure the Vancouver School Board will go ahead and make these cuts, they will not be pleasant, and our children will suffer.”
But Austin says Government’s review of the VSB ignored the real problem facing every District in BC, namely underfunding, which is why he wants the Auditor-General to get involved…
Globe and Mail: Trustees, province to discuss who wields power over schools
Wendy Stueck, Globe and Mail
June 8, 2010
The British Columbia School Trustees Association has requested a meeting with Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid to discuss the sometimes uneasy balance of power between school boards and the provincial government.
The meeting to discuss the “co-governance” model for B.C. schools had been planned before the release last week of a report on the Vancouver School Board’s finances, but jumped to the top of the agenda when that report flagged the system as in need of review. Read more
Paying Attention: If health authority boards ran schools
June 8, 2010
Paul Willcocks, columnist
If you like the way your regional health authority board is working, the government’s review of the Vancouver school district will please you.
No matter where you live, the report matters. It’s setting the stage for an overall of school boards that could make them much more like the health authorities. That is, unelected, less accountable to the public and focused on carrying out the government’s direction. Read more
Victoria Times Colonist: School board report takes wrong approach
June 8, 2010
Geoff Johnson, retired school superintendent
It is difficult to be judgmental or take sides when everybody involved is both wrong and right at the same time.
The comptroller general’s report on the Vancouver school board’s financial woes suggest the district’s problems are a result of the board putting political advocacy ahead of balancing the books and good governance.
That allegation, while likely accurate, should resonate uncomfortably and with a familiar ring within the halls of government itself. Read more
Canoe Money: Short sighted spending cuts to hurt Canada: report
June 8, 2010
Canada needs to avoid its past mistakes, such as chopping funding for education, when making efforts to slash its deficit, a new report said.
Provincial and federal governments have run up huge deficits to bolster the economic recovery paving the way for fiscal belt tightening down the line. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has already outlined a plan to rein in spending growth in an effort to trim Ottawa’s deficit to just $1.8 billion by 2014-15.
Education funding was among the first categories on the chopping block the last time governments attacked their deficits, according to a report by the Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity. Read more
Vancouver Sun: Editorial: Value for money is not VSB’s priority – better education is
June 8, 2010
The damning report on the Vancouver school board by the province’s comptroller-general demands action, but it also needs to be put in perspective.
Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland’s central finding that the board lacks the managerial expertise to look after a budget of almost half a billion dollars is based both on her assessment of how well trustees have carried out their duties and a failure on their part to take advantage of training opportunities. Read more
Calgary Herald: Officials fear for future of BC school boards
Robert Barron, The Nanaimo Daily News
June 7, 2010
A blistering critique of the performance of Vancouver’s school board in handling its finances has officials in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith district worried about the future of local autonomy and the very existence of regional school boards.
B.C. comptroller general Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland was appointed by Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid in April to assist Vancouver’s board of education in finding savings. The board faces an $18-million financial shortfall for the 2010-11 school year and is claiming the cuts required would jeopardize education. Read more
Vancouver Sun: Report augurs change for school boards
June 7, 2010
Janet Steffenhagen, Vancouver Sun
All school districts could be affected by a blistering new report about Vancouver’s board of education, longtime Vancouver trustee Ken Denike said Sunday.
He suggested that comptroller-general Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland’s report, which criticized the VSB for being too political and lacking managerial skills, envisions school boards that act like appointed boards for Crown corporations.
“You seldom hear boards of Crown corporations criticizing the government.” Read more
The Province: Rural towns have much to teach us about schools
June 2, 2010
Linda Farr Darling
Lower Mainland families have felt the impact of funding cuts to local schools for years now, and the budget picture from Victoria gets gloomier. More programs are shut down, more teachers laid off and more buildings and playgrounds deteriorate without funds to fix them.
Many of us believe a well-educated public is an invaluable resource and we are deeply disturbed by the erosion of support to our schools. We see its effects in our cities and suburbs daily despite the efforts of individual teachers and administrators to minimize the damage.
But what if you lived, as many British Columbians do, outside of our metropolitan centres, in places where the local school represents more to the populous than many city dwellers imagine?
Across the province, it is not a cliche to say that the school is the lifeblood and the heart of a small community. Read more
Maple Ridge News: Minimal savings
June 1, 2010
Obviously anything that reduces administrative overhead for school districts is a positive move.
At a time when cash is tight and direct resources for students are being chopped, bureaucracy must be brought in line.
However, the Ministry of Education’s pilot amalgamation of payroll, substitute teacher scheduling and other business systems is little more than smoke and mirrors. Read more.
The Vancouver Sun: Comptroller-general under pressure
May 29, 2010
Jonathan Fowlie, Vancouver Sun
B.C. comptroller-general Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland faced a thorny reception as she descended last month on the Vancouver school board to begin her government-ordered review of its finances.
From the outset, some board members challenged the province’s top accountant, questioning what her team of financial experts knew about education and lashing out at the government that had sent her. Read more.
CBC News: BC School Boards to combine payroll systems
May 27, 2010
The B.C. government plans to combine the payroll and other business systems of the province’s school districts in order to cut costs, Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid announced on Thursday morning.
“Currently, we have 60 school districts each operating different payroll and business administration systems. By streamlining them, we will put savings back in the classroom,” said MacDiarmid. Read more
Globe and Mail: School board hopes review will produce more money
Wendy Stueck, The Globe and Mail
May 26, 2010
Vancouver School Board trustees hope a special adviser’s review to be completed Monday will result in the province providing more money for staff and programs.
“We are optimistic that it will generate additional funds,” Sharon Gregson, chair of the Vancouver School Board’s finance committee, said on Wednesday. “We think they can only have found that we are truly underfunded.” Read more
The Tyee: The day teachers dread:
How to kill morale: Every year tell your dedicated staff to get ready to be dumped or bumped
Nick Smith – The Tyee.ca
May 17, 2010
“I am just sick of having my head on the chopping block year after year,” a fourth year teacher reveals to me after being bumped out of his position once again. “I just feel like finding a job that I don’t really care about,” he confesses.
This spring, as in most springs in recent memory, thousands of B.C. teachers, myself included, received letters from our school boards, warning us that we were in jeopardy of losing our jobs this coming fall. This past week, I found out, by phone, that I was spared the axe. The next morning I discovered that many of my colleagues were not so fortunate. Read more
Summer school in BC may face a classroom crunch
CTV News
May 17, 2010
Budget constraints are forcing some B.C. school districts to cut back on the number of summer school spots being offered.
“School boards are doing the best they can and they’re making decisions on the ground,” said B.C. Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid. Read more
BC’s biggest school district faces cuts as enrolment grows
May 12, 2010
Crawford Killian – The Tyee
The irony is hard to miss: While most B.C. school districts have lost funding because of declining enrolments, a few are growing — none more than Surrey. Yet Surrey’s growing student numbers are only compounding its funding problems. Read more
Push to start businesses leaves school districts in debt
Janet Steffenhagen, Vancouver Sun
May 3, 2010
A Liberal government push in 2002 for school districts to become entrepreneurial by peddling education programs abroad was an expensive experiment that’s since fallen out of favour.
Of the few district-created businesses that are still active, several are in debt. Others have failed, leaving school districts to cover their losses using hundreds of thousands of dollars that could have otherwise been spent on local student services. Read more
Trustees want BC to redirect funding from private schools
Wendy Stueck – Globe and Mail
May 2, 2010
As a provincially appointed adviser pores over the books of the Vancouver School Board, the financial woes of boards across the province have pushed another financial issue into the limelight: whether tax dollars should support private schools… Read more
War on public schools rages
Donald Gutstein – Georgia Straight
April 29, 2010
Supporters of public education need to realize they’re in the middle of a war for its future, and they’re losing.
The Fraser Institute’s school report-card program is merely the opening salvo in a campaign to strip public education of its funding and direct the resources to the private and nonprofit sectors. Read more
BC’s Education brownout
Crawford Killian – The Tyee
April 29, 2010
The province refuses to meet the true cost of sustaining our public schools, as a close analysis shows. We all will pay a price. Read more
Decline of public education by design
Michael Shratter – 24 Hours News Guest Spot
April 28, 2010
We live in one of the wealthiest cities, in one of the wealthiest provinces, in one of the world’s wealthiest nations, during what is indisputably the wealthiest time in human history.
So, where is the money?
The government says it is spending more per student and then blames school boards, so the general public believes that, somehow, the board is wasting money.
Yet, what I’ve seen over the past decade teaching in public schools is that parents are paying for more and more things such as basic supplies and programs such as music, art and sports. Read more
School cuts continue as deadline looms
CBC News
April 28, 2010
The cuts to school programs in B.C. continue as districts vote on measures to balance their books in time to meet the April 30 deadline.
North Vancouver’s school board voted to close a third school on Tuesday night in order to deal with a $6.7 million budget shortfall. Read more.
School funding needs a dose of reality
Russ Searle – Victoria Times Colonist Op Ed
April 28, 2010
Let’s make one thing clear. There are no surpluses in school district budgets, and the province has underfunded public education for the past decade.
What appear to be surpluses are byproducts of a flawed public school funding allocation system that distributes funds inequitably among school districts, and supplementary formulas which bear no relation to the actual costs incurred by school districts. Read more
Massaging the figures
Shoni Field – letter to the editor – The Province
April 27, 2010
Why is Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid not being straightforward with parents?
More money per student than ever before, she says. Yet she refuses to acknowledge costs have risen (including many mandated, but not funded, by Victoria). And new costs have been off-loaded onto the school boards.
Some of those new costs come with very slippery stipulations, i.e. their carbon-offsetting policy. Read more
Public education system among best in the world despite chronic underfunding by BC government
Catherine Evans, BC Society for Public Education – Vancouver Sun Op Ed
April 26, 2010
Of the 800 people surveyed, 81 per cent said the provincial government isn’t doing enough to protect public education. And 79 per cent said Victoria should increase funding to public schools. Why such strong support for public schools? Our public schools are a resource our communities hold dear, and internationally our education system is widely admired. Read more
Ask the right questions
Dawn Steele – letter to the Editor – The Province
April 25, 2010
I don’t care how many accountants Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid sends to Vancouver to help assesses the schoolboard’s budget. More important is that they ask the right questions.
The terms of reference for the special adviser exclude any consideration of whether provincial education funding is enough or of how $18 million in cuts will impact Vancouver’s students. Read more
BC trustees ask province to ‘redirect private school funding to public education
Stephen Hui, Georgia Straight
April 24, 2010
School trustees from across the province are calling on the B.C. Liberal government to take the funding it gives to private schools and put it into the public school system.
Today (April 24), at the B.C. School Trustees Association’s annual general meeting in Victoria, trustees voted to “request the Ministry of Education to redirect to the public education system the public money spent on independent schools, other than band schools”. Read more
Education Minister gets schooled by trustees
Channel A News
April 23, 2010
Rumours of School district mergers refuse to die
Jack Knox – Victoria Times Colonist
April 22, 2010
While Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid says neither measure is in the works, she stops short of burying the rumours unequivocally.
And she also makes it clear change is coming. Read more
British Columbians want to see more public education funding: polls
Janet Steffenhagen, Vancouver Sun
April 22, 2010
A majority of British Columbians support school trustees in their call for more public-education funding and want the province to stop spending tax dollars on private schools, suggests a poll this month by Angus Reid Public Opinion.
The online survey, conducted at a time when trustees around the province say they’re being forced to cut programs, staff and services to balance their 2010-11 budgets, found 79 per cent of respondents were either strongly or moderately in favour of increased funding. Read more
Spending restraints threaten public schooling, trustees warn
Janet Steffenhagen, Vancouver Sun
April 21, 2010
“We are at a watershed moment,” trustee Donna Sargent said in an interview. “We can’t deliver [education] the way we have.” Read more
School shortfall brings a struggle
Victoria Times Colonist
April 21, 2010
Re: “Education fight hints at change,” April 16.
The Saanich Board of Education is neither in a battle nor a war. As elected trustees and co-governors of public education, we have a responsibility to speak up on behalf of students, our communities and public education. We are proud of our collaborative relationships with all partner groups. Read more
Trustees urged to continue battle for school funding
Janet Steffenhagen – Vancouver Sun
April 19, 2010
Vancouver school trustees won kudos and cheers Sunday from parents, teachers and antigovernment activists who urged them to continue their battle with the Liberals over education funding.
Several hundred people filled the gymnasium at John Oliver secondary school in a spirited show of support for trustees, whose complaints about inadequate resources prompted the government last week to appoint the provincial comptroller-general as a special adviser to review the district’s books. Read article
Education fight hints at changes
Editorial – The Victoria Times Colonist
April 16, 2010
The provincial government’s decision to take effective control of the Vancouver Board of Education marks the start of the first major battle in a war over our schools, and we should not be surprised to see more battles break out on other fronts.
By the time this war is over, we expect British Columbia’s public school system will have a radically new look. That might not be a bad thing. Read article:
Downloading the deficit
Robert Barron – The Daily News, Nanaimo
April 16, 2010
If there is any clarity to the government’s precarious relationships with B.C.’s 60 school districts in recent months, it’s that the Ministry of Education seems to care little about the ongoing concerns raised by trustees around how education should be delivered in their jurisdictions.
The appointment on Wednesday of B.C.’s comptroller-general, Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland, by Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid, to step into the financial dispute between the ministry and Vancouver’s school board should serve as a wakeup call about how intransigent this government can be. Read article
BC eyes more probes into school board books
Ian Bailey – Globe and Mail
April 15, 2010
Premier Gordon Campbell says he isn’t ruling out the further use of advisers to assess the finances of troubled school boards – a tactic the Liberal government applied this week to the board in Vancouver, which is facing an $18.1-million shortfall.
“We’re prepared to help all boards who need the assistance,” Mr. Campbell said when asked about the possibility in a scrum with reporters following a news conference on an unrelated matter. Read article
BC government asserts financial control over Vancouver school board
Patrick Brethour, Justine Hunter – Globe and Mail
April 14, 2010
The B.C. government is wresting financial control from the Vancouver School Board, escalating a political battle over funding by appointing a “special adviser” with the mission of laying out how the district can spend its money according to Victoria’s wishes.
Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland, B.C.’s comptroller-general, has been handed the task of looking over the books and making recommendations on how the school board is managing the $443-million in provincial money it will receive next year.
The funding dispute has been growing since the budget last February. While the provincial government insists it is paying record-high funding on a per-pupil basis, the school boards have argued that the money is not sufficient to meet higher costs, many generated by the provincial government. Read article
Funding falls short for school districts
Editorial – Penticton Western News
April 14, 2010
Some of the Ministry of Education’s material might be getting a little outdated. In a letter to the editor last week, Education Minister Margaret McDiarmid trotted out the B.C. Liberal’s old saw about how they’ve increased education funding every year since 2001. Read article
Fun with numbers game no fun
Editorial – Richmond News
April 14, 2010
If you are one of the roughly 100 Richmond school district staff who may lose his or her job due to budget cuts, you can stop worrying now. Margaret MacDiarmid, the minister of education, assures us there is nothing to worry about.
It’s right there in black and white in a letter to the editor on Page 9. MacDiarmid assures us her government is “increasing funding for B.C.’s public schools to record levels” and is “proud to be able to fully fund full day kindergarten.”
It may not be a lie for MacDiarmid to frame her government’s education funding in this way, but talk about misleading. Read article
Local School Trustees are just “whipping boys” who do the Province’s dirty work of making cuts. So why not eliminate School Boards, asks a Nanaimo editorial?
School trustees’ job is not easy
April 12, 2010
Walter Cordery | Nanaimo Daily News
I have long thought that one of the most thankless jobs in the world must be that of a school trustee in British Columbia.
Trustees like those sitting on the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district board act as a buffer between the organization with the money (the provincial government) and those who want to tell them how to spend that money (parents, teachers and administrators).
They are beholden to the province for the money and though they used to be able to raise taxes locally, that has become politically unpalatable. Trustees don’t negotiate contracts with teachers anymore so the deal the provincial government makes with teachers is imposed on the trustees and if the province refuses to completely fund those negotiated wage increases, as has been the case in Nanaimo, trustees are forced to find the money elsewhere. Read article
School districts face bleak financial future
Commentary
Penticton Werstern News | April 8, 2010
The Okanagan Skaha School District is getting off easy. They’re lucky to only be expecting a $1.5 million shortfall in next year’s operating budget. That’s after dealing with $1.7 million in cuts to balance this year’s budget.
That’s right, lucky. At least stacked up against other school districts like Kamloops, where they’ve already made plans to close schools and are warning that up to 60 teachers and support staff are going to lose their jobs.
The Surrey School District, the largest in the province and the only with increasing enrolment, is in even worse shape. They’re trying to figure out how to keep educating students with a $12 million drop in operating funds. Read article
VSB’s budget crisis highlights the case of ‘haves vs. have-nots”
Commentary
Vancouver City Councillor Geoff Meggs | April 2010
Meggs links the budget crises facing local school boards like Vancouver to federal and provincial tax policy and wonders whose interests are being served (or not). Read blog post
Endless cycle of cuts in schools
Editorial
Goldstream Gazette | April 6, 2010
Trustees in the Capital Region will face hard choices this year. In addition to layoffs, critical programs are also in line for cuts, which will mean some vulnerable kids being left behind, says the Goldstream Gazette. Read editorial
Vancouver School Board prepares $18 million cut
CBC News| April 5, 2010
The Vancouver School Board is putting the final touches on a plan to cut an estimated $18 million from its budget fo rthe coming school year… Read story
Pink slips for 100 Richmond staff to arrive at the end of the month
By Nelson Bennet, Richmond News – Vancouver Sun| April 3, 2010
One hundred teaches, education assistants, administrators and other school staff in Richmond will start receiving pink slips at the end of April... Read story
School closures unprecedented: BC teachers
CBC News| March 24, 2010
BC schools are being shut down at an unprecedented rate, the province’s teaches are warning… Read story
School district projecting $2M deficit next year
Errin Cardone
Goldstream News Gazette | Tuesday, Mar. 23, 2010
Despite growing enrolment, Sooke, like most other BC school districts, is struggling with a hefty $2 million funding shortfall for next year. Read more
B.C. school boards cutting costs to make up shortfall
Justine Hunter and Robyn Smith
Globe and Mail | Tuesday, Mar. 23, 2010
Province’s $112-million spending increase said to be not enough, meaning larger classes, fewer services among solutions. Read more
Editorial: Protecting education must be a priority
The Daily News | March 22, 2010
Our education system is not in crisis, but it may not be long if B.C. doesn’t do something about the declining number of teachers in this province. Read more.
Decline in teachers worries union
Statistics show larger class sizes even with the overall number of students dropping
By Derek Spalding,
Daily News | March 22, 2010
Statistics show that teachers and students have been disappearing from the B.C. education system at a disproportionate rate. Read more.
Funding crunch means cuts at B.C. schools
CBC News | Friday, March 19, 2010
The Vancouver School Board is facing an $18.1 million budget shortfall for next year. (CBC)School districts across B.C. say they will have to lay off teachers and close schools to deal with looming budget deficits, despite a boost in funding announced by the provincial government earlier this week. Read more.
Vancouver Sun: More than half of B.C. school districts face stangnant operating grants
Janet Steffenhagen | Vancouver Sun
Thursday, March 18, 2010
School districts were examining the B.C. government’s funding promises after the education ministry released information this week showing that more than half of them would receive the same operating grant this year as last year, despite having to pay for salary increases and expanded kindergarten.
Overall, the 60 school districts will receive an additional $112 million for teacher wages and full-day kindergarten as promised in the 2010 budget, boosting total operating grants for public schools to $4.66 billion next year, the ministry said in a release. But in 33 districts, the extra cash will be offset by a drop in per-pupil grants due to declining enrolment. Read article
The Report Card: Francophones to sue Education Ministry over funding
Janet Steffenhagen | Vancouver Sun Education blog
Friday, March 5, 2010
The Conseil Scolaire Francophone (CSF) says it is launching a lawsuit against the B.C. government for allegedly failing to provide sufficient resources for the school district to provide quality education.
The lawsuit is intended to compel the Education Ministry “to recognize the constitutional obligations of the CSF and to provide it with the means of fulfilling these obligations towards the francophone population of British Columbia, as guaranteed under Section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” the school district says in a statement.
“We have tried everything to convince the government to give us adequate means to ensure our development,” CSF president Marie Bourgeois states. “Our schools are operating beyond capacity. Enrolments have gone up more than 50 per cent over the past 10 years. We need to respond to pressures from parents who demand quality education and an acceptable and safe classroom environment. Read more
Nanaimo News Bulletin: District asks for review of education system
Jenn Marshall | Nanaimo News Bulletin
Friday, March 5, 2010
Nanaimo trustees are calling for a comprehensive review of the public education system.
The school board approved a motion to take to the B.C. School Trustees Association’s annual general meeting in April, asking the provincial association to lobby government for a royal commission to review and make recommendations on public education in B.C. Read article
Parents break out of apatheric attitudes to challenge educational institutions
Mona Mattei | The Boundary Sentinel
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Parents across the Boundary region are getting together to become a regular voice that the Board of Trustees of School District 51 will be hearing every month. In light of the actions of school boards across the province, and with the potential school closures on the agenda for next week’s board meeting in the Boundary, this voice is going to be a critical part of the future of the region’s schools. Read Op-ed
No selling schools B.C. tells districts
CBC News
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Cash-strapped school boards around B.C. are being told they can not sell their mothballed schools in order to make money to cover budget shortfalls.
Dozens of schools across the province are likely to be shut down next year because of declining enrolment in rural areas and tight funding, but B.C. Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid is turning down requests from the affected districts to sell them off. Read article
Liberals failing to protect education
Kathy Corrigan | Burnaby Now
Saturday, January 30, 2010
As a three-term Burnaby school trustee, I know that Burnaby is a community that is fiercely proud of its excellent public education system. As the home to two of British Columbia’s finest post-secondary institutions, BCIT and SFU, we understand the social and economic benefits that flow from educational investments. Read article
Education system ‘in crisis’ despite lower class size averages
Adrian Nieoczym | Kelowna.com
Friday, January 29th, 2010
And while the government makes a big deal out of how the amount of dollars spent on education has never been higher, the rate of funding increases has not kept pace with rising costs. Over the last two years, the Central Okanagan Board of Education has had to make $7.4 million worth of cuts from its $170 million budget and could be forced to cut $6 million more next year. Read article
School closures on the table to balance Vancouver school district books
Naoibh O’Connor | Vancouver Courier
Thursday, January 28, 2010
School closures are an option for tackling massive budget shortfalls anticipated for the Vancouver School District in 2010/11 and subsequent school years, according to school board chair Patti Bacchus. The district anticipates a deficit of between $17.5 million to $36.3 million for 2010/11. Read article
There Are Three Classes Of Education In BC
Ben Meisner | Opinion 250
Monday, January 25, 2010
The proposed closing of all of the rural schools in School District 57 other than those in McBride, and Valemount points to a much larger problem, a widening of the gap between the major urban centers of the province and those who live in the rural section. Read article
BC school districts face closures and layoffs
Crawford Killian | The Hook – A Tyee blog
January 22, 2010
B.C. school trustees and teachers across the province are beginning the new year with the prospect of widespread school closures and teacher layoffs. Read article
Schools need $300 million more to maintain same level of service
Janet Steffenhagen | Vancouver Sun
January 21, 2010
The provincial government will have to find almost $300 million more for education next year if it wants to maintain the same level of service offered in B.C. public schools this year, according to school district secretary-treasurers.
Many of the additional costs arise from government decisions and are therefore unavoidable, such as the negotiated two-per-cent salary increase for teachers as of July 1 that will cost districts a total of $43.5 million during the 2010-11 school year and higher medical services plan (MSP) premiums worth $2.8 million. Read article
Boards seek funding to prevent teacher layoffs
Ian Bailey| Globe and Mail
January 19, 2010
Threatened layoffs of teachers in Vancouver and the possibility of school closings in Prince George could spread across the province unless the Liberal government, already promising a tough budget due to a $2.8-billion deficit, comes to the rescue with more money, education officials warn. Read article
BC teachers face layoffs in funding crunch
CBC News
January 19, 2010
The Vancouver and Prince George school boards are considering widespread layoffs or school closures because of funding shortfalls, CBC News has learned. In Vancouver, 800 teachers with less than five years of seniority were sent letters on Tuesday morning advising them of possible layoffs next year. The letters follow a board meeting Monday night at which trustees were told the district could be facing a shortfall of $17.5 million to $36.3 million in the 2010/2011 school year. Read article
