VICTORIA — An arbitrator’s ruling has found the B.C. Liberals’ failure to invest in public education has left children struggling to learn in overcrowded classrooms across the province, say New Democrats.
“This ruling confirms what we have been hearing from parents, teachers, support staff, and students,” said New Democrat education critic Robin Austin. “The B.C. Liberal government is breaking their own class size and composition law, and students are the ones who are paying the price.”
The ruling was the result of grievances filed by thousands of teachers whose classes were overcrowded according to the B.C. Liberal government’s own class size and composition law – Bill 33. It is estimated that one in four classrooms in British Columbia exceed the government’s limits.
“The arbitrator made it clear that the B.C. Liberal government is responsible for ensuring schools have the funding to keep classes from being overcrowded,” said Austin. “This ruling is the result of years of cuts and downloaded costs, something that will only get worse if the HST is implemented and takes even more resources out of the classroom each year.”
North Coast MLA Gary Coons notes that some districts have been ordered to compensate teachers for the violation of Bill 33 and will result in massive funding issues that districts cannot afford at this point in time.
“This ruling confirms what many have said for years…this government’s priorities are wrong and their actions continue to put public education and our children at risk,” said Coons.
Arbitrator James Dorsey, in his 74 page decision reiterated that teachers have a right to expect to be assigned to a class that meets class size and composition standards and one that respects the law. When the rules are not followed, “the burden of the breach is primarily borne by the teacher(s) of the class, not the principal, superintendent, trustees or even individual students.”
“Those concerned about the shambles of Bill 33 have been echoing that classes are too large and contain too many unsupported special-needs children,” said Coons. “In 2002, when the Liberal government stripped contracts of the ability to negotiate class size and composition at the bargaining table, they started a systematic slide that finally has bounced back to reveal how they left our public education system in tatters after eight years of neglect. A key part of Dorsey’s ruling was a section that made it clear that the B.C. Liberal government cannot hide behind school boards – the B.C. Liberal government is ultimately responsible for ensuring that districts have the resources to meet the government’s legislated class size and composition rules.”
Recently school district secretary-treasurers told trustees that there is a $293-million price tag on new costs and cancelled grants for 2010-11, and that doesn’t include general inflation(see below).This recent ruling will only cost districts more and further erode services to our children!
Many districts are already predicting drastic and massive shortfalls in funding for the next school year; this will only increase the burden upon school boards. The Vancouver district says their shortfall could be as high as $19 million, the Richmond district is predicting a shortfall of up to $15 million, the Burnaby district is looking at an $8 million dollar shortfall, the Vernon school district is facing down a $2.5 million shortfall, and Victoria schools expect to be short as much as $9 million.
Carole James and New Democrats believe that, in order to help drive the ideas and jobs of tomorrow, we must reduce class sizes, eliminate of barriers to post-secondary education, and invest in research and development.
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Counting the (missing) dollars
By Janet Steffenhagen
27 Dec 2009
Here is a story that’s likely to dominate education news in the new year — school district secretary-treasurers have put a $293-million price tag on new costs and cancelled grants for 2010-11. That doesn’t include general inflation.
The most significant hit comes from their expectation that the Education Ministry will not reinstate the annual facility grant (AFG), which was worth $110 million when it was cancelled in 2009-10. Another big cost is full-day kindergarten at $44 million. Although the ministry has promised new money to fully cover that program, the secretary-treasurers – through their B..C. Association of School Business Officials (BCASBO) – have not included that in their list of 2010-11 funding pressures. The only new spending identified is a $37-million bump in overall K-12 funding as promised by the Liberals in the last budget.
The other new costs include: (The BCASBO presented this list to trustees at their recent academy in Vancouver)
Implementation of Harmonized Sales Tax on July 1 — $32 million ***different than the $24 million reported in Nov…see below!
Teacher salary increase of two per cent — $43.5 million
Teacher pension cost increase of 1.04 per cent — $23.1 million
Estimated cost of carbon offsets — $5.95 million
MSP premium increase — $2.8 million
Deployment of SmartTOOL software for calculating carbon emissions — $444,000
BC Hydro rate increases — $2.4 million
CUPE trades adjustment — $3.3 million.
Other possible pressures, included on the list:
Continued cancellation of AFG — $110 million
Exhausting one-time reserves for 2009-10 budget funding — $63 million
Growth in special education and general inflation for supplies and services, benefits, energy — Unknown
The BCASBO presented this list to trustees at their recent academy in Vancouver
HST COULD COST B.C. SCHOOLS $24 MILLION, ASSOCIATION FINDS
November 8, 2009
VICTORIA – The Liberals’ Harmonized Sales Tax could be a $24 million hit to annual operating costs for B.C. schools according to estimates from the B.C. Association of School Business Official.
The BCASBO stated in a letter to Finance Minister Colin Hansen that “B.C.’s K-12 Section will face significant cost increases due to HST”, and estimated the new tax will cost B.C schools $24 million per year in additional operating costs.