Thursday May 19 parents will wear red to protest the current state of education funding in BC5/18/2016 On Thursday, May 19, we encourage all citizens across BC to join us in wearing RED to mark the fact that, although the BC budget is in the black, public education is in the red. Joint PAN/FACE Media Statement (PDF)PARENTS WEAR RED TO PROTEST STATE OF FUNDING FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION
Parent Advocacy Network and Families Against Cuts to Education Respond to BC Budget 2016 VANCOUVER -- Thursday, May 19, marks the end of the current Legislative session and the passing of the BC Liberal government’s balanced budget. Sadly, while BC may be in the black, public education is surely in the red. As part of a joint FACE-PAN campaign — #bcedinred — FACE has been tracking school district budget shortfalls. As of Wednesday, May 18, half of the 60 School Boards had reported operating budget shortfalls with a combined total of $84.17 million. The BC public education system has seen a long history of adverse policies and chronic structural underfunding which has crippled the public system forcing school boards to cut programming, support staff, resource workers, counselors, specialist teachers, librarians, maintenance, resources and supplies while increasing class sizes and closing schools. “Every year, structural underfunding forces students, schools and communities across BC to compete for increasingly scarce dollars. It forces school boards to make impossible choices over which vital program to save or to cut, and it forces PACs to fundraise inordinate amounts of money to compensate for these losses, creating inequality between schools,” said Jennifer Stewart, parent and co-founder of FACE. BC school boards are required by law to balance their budgets; they must find ways to cover the shortfalls. This means programs, services, and school closures are on the chopping block throughout the 60 school districts. The collateral damage to-date is dire and continues to expand: Osoyoos has seen its only high school closed; Quesnel has closed three schools and still need to make cuts; parents in Courtenay fought successfully to save Ecole Puntledge Park, but the district must still make cuts to cover its shortfall; school buses are being cut in Maple Ridge; Vancouver Trustees refused to pass a budget containing $24 million in cuts; and Saanich has also balked at making cuts. “Over the last decade, parents have seen a relentless depletion of services within our schools, resulting in the loss of teachers, counselors, specialists, learning supports, librarians, arts programs, and basic educational resources” said Andrea Sinclair, parent and co-founder of PAN. Parents know these cuts cannot be dismissed as “local decisions”; they are the result of decisions made at the provincial level. The government decided to increase public school operational funding by less than 1% in Budget 2016 — this does not even cover inflation. It also doesn’t cover spending decisions made at the provincial level, such as construction of the Next Generation Network. These costs are downloaded onto the Boards, who must find a way to cover them without any additional funding. The 2016/17 BC budget indicates that we live in a province of relative prosperity. Unfortunately, public education is not being funded accordingly, much to the detriment of our future society. PAN and FACE believe that a high-quality public education system is the cornerstone of a democratic society. We cannot condone a budget that is balanced on the backs of children in public schools. On Thursday, May 19, we encourage all citizens across BC to join us in wearing RED to mark the fact that, although the BC budget is in the black, public education is in the red. -30- Supporting Resources #BCEDINRED - http://www.panvancouver.ca/bcedinred.html https://facebc.wordpress.com/2016/04/10/bcedinred/ http://www.panvancouver.ca https://facebc.wordpress.com/ PAN Vancouver@PAN_Vancouver @FACE_BC www.facebook.com/PANVancouver www.facebook.com/FACEVancouver [email protected] About the Parent Advocacy Network The Parent Advocacy Network for Public Education (PAN), formed in 2015, is a grassroots collective of parents and community members who want to address the chronic underfunding and cuts to education services in Vancouver and across British Columbia. Our mission is to create a strong network of parents across schools and to support one another in advocacy. Our network enables us to share information and experiences, and to stand together in protecting public education. About Families Against Cuts to Education Parents and citizens who care about public education came together in 2015 to form Families Against Cuts to Education (FACE). We believe public education needs to be a priority again, that public education is more important than politics, that a strong public education system benefits us all, and that all children must be able to benefit from high quality public education. Media Contacts For PAN - Andrea Sinclair, 604-240-9834, [email protected] For FACE - Jennifer Stewart, 604-790-9929, [email protected] © 2016 Parent Advocacy Network for Public Education. All rights reserved.
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Thank you David Eby, MLA Vancouver-Point Grey, for telling the Legislative Assembly all about the hard work we're doing. Thank you to all 735 individuals representing 70 schools and 70 PACs plus community members of Vancouver School District for signing PAN's statement to Minister Bernier re: VSB Budget. May 10, 2016 Parent Advocacy Network Statement to the Minister of Education RE: VSB Budget The 2016/17 BC budget indicates that we live in a province of relative prosperity. Unfortunately, public education is not being funded accordingly, much to the detriment of our future society. The current Vancouver School Board budget shortfall of $24 million is the result of over a decade of structural underfunding by the Provincial Government. Every year, underfunding forces communities across BC to compete for increasingly scarce dollars. It forces school boards to make impossible choices over which vital programs to save or to cut. It forces PACs to fundraise inordinate amounts of money to compensate for these losses, creating divisiveness and inequalities between schools. Despite the recommendations of the Select Standing Committee on Finance – and therefore the priorities of the citizens of this province – the provincial government has not even increased expenditures to sufficiently cover inflation. At least 29 districts across the province are facing budget shortfalls this year, totalling over $82 million. This is despite over a decade of cuts to programs and student services, including school closures. Even districts like Surrey, with increased enrollment and schools over capacity, are experiencing shortfalls. In Vancouver, $80 million (adjusted for inflation and enrolment changes) of funding would be required to restore the same level of services to students that existed in 2001. Focusing on declining enrollment and surplus space serves to obscure the actual problem: a flawed and inadequate funding model that is crippling our once internationally acclaimed public education system. The Parent Advocacy Network stands with VSB Trustees in saying, “Enough is Enough.” ALL children, regardless of their economic background, race, or ability, have the right in this province to a quality education that meets their learning needs and gives them the opportunity to achieve their full potential. This is the goal of public education as set forth in the BC School Act – for the health and benefit of our entire society. We, Parent Advocacy Network and the 735 undersigned people, strongly urge you to act immediately to restore adequate and sustainable funding for public education to this year's budget. Investing in the provision of a quality education for all children in this province is not only your legal obligation, it is the key to true prosperity. pdf version with the 735 names May 10 Update: Thank you for everyone who added their name. We have closed the document and are preparing the statement for submission. Final total being calculated, but over 700 individuals!
As many of you will know from our meeting on Wednesday evening this week, we have now crafted an official PAN statement to the Govt regarding the VSB budget. We believe in addition to all the parent letters/emails to Mr Bernier and MLAs etc and the continued social media work, that we need to send an official statement. Our goal is simple but time is short to: 1) Get as many parent/guardian/citizen/Vancouverite "signatures" on our statement 2) Submit the statement with signatories by email on Tuesday May 10 SO your call to action - If you believe as we do that the Govt should fund public education adequately and you believe in the work PAN is doing, we ask you to "sign" our statement letter. The statement and the place to affix your name/email is in a shared Google Excel Doc at this link: {link removed as no longer active}. Please sign as yourself, or on behalf of your PAC or as a citizen concerned for public education. It doesn't matter if you are a member of PAN - it only matters that you believe in what the letter has to say and you feel you can stand with PAN in pushing back to the Minister of Education. Please share the link/email with your parent networks and we will submit the letter with as many signatories as we can gather between Fri May 6 and end of day Mon May 9 Thank you! |
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