The provincial Ministry of Education is under fire again this week over its inexplicable decision to pull the rug right out from under local school boards.
We learned at Tuesday night’s School District No. 46 board meeting that the Ministry has decided to take away up to 50 per cent of funding for future capital projects. So that means our local school boards have even less with which to do more.
The rationale behind the decision was explained in a letter sent by Education Minister Peter Fassbender to the B.C. School Trustees’ Association on March 31. Fassbender said the funding change is part of the “cash management strategy” that was introduced by the government in last month’s provincial budget.
Trustees are still trying to wrap their heads around this grim news, but as they initially try to digest this bitter pill, it does not bode well.
Luckily, the new Gibsons Elementary School construction project, well underway and set for a summer opening in time for the 2014/15 school year, is not affected by the funding change because the project was already funded and started before the new policy was introduced.
But future capital projects, like upgrades or new school builds, will most certainly be affected. That means restricted funds that school districts had before, they will no longer have, which means more belt tightening. And how many more holes must school boards make in their belts before they run out of leather?
Trustees are plenty outraged at the announcement, and we can see why.
Yes, this new policy will significantly impact our school district. Just how much is yet to be determined as school boards and their management teams are speaking daily with Ministry officials to get a handle on the situation.
But in larger school districts, say Vancouver for instance, which has millions of dollars in planned capital projects and upgrades on their books, it means that many of those projects are now in jeopardy.
This week the Province newspaper released findings of an Angus Reid Global survey, which found that fewer than half of the survey respondents said the provincial government was doing a good job when it came to education. And we can see why. With poor labour relations, strike actions and failing to get a deal with B.C. teachers, constant wage disputes and constant funding challenges borne down onto the backs of school boards, it’s no wonder that the public appetite for our education system has soured.
Now we have yet another funding decision that appears to be short-sighted and only makes the jobs of our trustees and school board staff even harder.
The Ministry of Education clearly gets at F on our report card.
