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Cuts like a knife

Editorial

A quality education is something that everyone should be entitled to and should have the opportunity to take advantage of.

Teaching our children today is what will sustain us in the future. Our youth are the future, but that future continues to be one filled with uncertainty.

Will School District No. 46 and every other school district in this province be able to maintain the quality and service they provide when they are asked time and time again to pinch pennies even further? It’s becoming quite clear that the provincial government’s claim of offering the best educational opportunities to our youth is just lip service.

The province has asked school districts to come up with $54 million in “administrative savings” to help with the overall school budget. That means cutting programs and services that can’t be cut any further.

Where is SD46 going to find its share of this money? In a school district such as ours that is smaller on average than others in the province, every dollar means that much more.

In the past couple of weeks we wrote about several school-based and school district operated breakfast programs that are so vital to every school on the Sunshine Coast. Sadly, children are going to school hungry and without these programs in place, their ability to learn on empty stomachs is nearly impossible. Could these programs be a causality of the system? We hope not, but who knows?

In this week’s edition, we write about a great trades program that students are taking advantage of at Chatelech Secondary School. The program is giving students, who might not graduate otherwise, a chance at a trades career — possibly right here on the Coast. It’s been a huge success but can only continue through community grants to the tune of $15,000. Will the money be found in the community? We hope so, because there certainly won’t be extra money from the school district.

And we can go on and on about the challenges that SD46, teachers and parents face from fundraising for playground equipment, so children can go on a field trip or can benefit from a guest speaker. All of these things help to enhance a child’s education, but they could all be lost if grants dry up, just another victim of an ever-growing chopping block that is being forced upon school districts all over this province.

These cuts put extreme pressures on school districts that have already been cut to the bone. Where will the money come from?