The B.C. Teachers’ Federation called on the government to increase funding to public schools and to reinstate tuition-free courses for adults in its submission to the government’s Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services.
Last year, the committee recommended that the government increase funding to K to public education, but the government did not. Instead, school districts were told to find $29 million in “administrative savings,” which will be followed up by a further $25-million cut next year.
Some of the cuts that were made in school districts to cover the $29 million include a reduction in student bussing, the implementation of monthly student transportation fees, increased class sizes and the loss of elective classes, the BCTF said in its submission to the committee, citing a B.C. School Trustees Association survey. Other cuts that were made to achieve the “administrative savings” include cuts to education assistant hours, reduced school supply budgets, reduced support for innovation projects, program, classroom and school closures, reductions in the number of school days, cancellation of technology upgrades and maintenance of schools, reduced library time, loss of music and arts programs, less funding for sports, delayed replacement of textbooks and higher charges for community groups who use schools, the BCTF reports.
Next year, teachers would like to see a fund created after their strike be used specifically to hire teachers for areas of greater need, rather than just making up for other positions that have been cut. They would like to see new funding to address student mental health and funding for the time and resources necessary for implementation of the new curriculum be provided to teachers.
“Parents and the public are not going to be satisfied to have what is widely acknowledged as an excellent education system undermined because changes were imposed without providing the resources to make them a success,” Iker said in the submission.
Teachers called for the gradual elimination of funding for independent schools, starting by reducing the funding for independent schools to 30 per cent of the per-student funding, rather than the current funding, which ranges between 35 and 50 per cent.
The BCTF says that over the last decade, funding for independent schools has increased by 61.1 per cent, which is three times the percentage increase for public schools (19.7 per cent).
tsherlock@vancouversun.com
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