We at PAN are working alongside the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition on ensuring Education is an Election issue for May 2017. Please check out their August campaign: #RethinkEducation.
0 Comments
On August 10, the provincial government announced that it was putting $14.7 million into a "student transportation fund" to ease the burden on parents caused by districts cancelling school bus services and/or charging fees for school bus service. This sounds great until you remember that districts used to provide these services routinely without charging fees, and that school bus service is one of the "non-instructional" items that boards have been forced to cut in order to balance budgets while attempting to keep cuts out of the classroom. (Here is a memo from the BC School Trustees' Association listing budget cuts; buses are at the top of the list.).
In fact, the provincial government encouraged boards to cut school bus services or charge fees for busing in order to meet the requirement for $54 million in "administrative savings" in their 2015 and 2016 budgets. Here is a document sent by the Ministry to the boards, outlining the guidelines for making the required cuts. One of the suggested "savings" is "transportation reduction (rationalization of routes) or user fees." So the government demanded that boards make $29 million in cuts in 2015 and $25 million in cuts in 2016; it outlined areas that could be cut to meet these quotas and included busing in that list. In June 2016, it returned $25 million of these "administrative savings" to the districts; the remaining $29 million has not been returned... until now. On April 1, 2016, the Parent Advocacy Network for Public Education (PAN) sent its “PAN Questions on BC Budget 2016: Ministry of Education” document to the BC Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance, the provincial political parties, and the media.
On April 26, 2016 we posted some answers we had gathered to date through dialogue with the Ministry of Education and further research. On June 3, 2016 we got another response from the Ministry of Education which included these answers to our questions (this is the document we received) plus the template of what they were looking for for 'Administrative Savings Plan.' While we don't feel that all our questions were answered to our satisfaction, we appreciate their response and apologize for the tardiness of us getting this posted. Join us on August 31 at Douglas Elementary School for an educational, non-partisan evening. To help with our preparations, please register (required if you need childcare).
Thank you Alex Hemingway for being our Guest Speaker and Douglas Elementary for co-hosting. pdf version
Parent Advocacy Network Responds to Minister of Education on VSB Budget VANCOUVER -- The Parent Advocacy Network (PAN) continues to support the Vancouver Board of Education (VBE) Trustees’ rejection of a budget requiring severe cuts to educational services and resources as the result of inadequate funding allocated to public education by the provincial government. All cuts, direct and indirect, will have significant and detrimental impacts on student learning. PAN also supports the Trustees’ rejection of the Minister of Education’s offer to partially offset the Board’s $21.8 million budget shortfall with a small percentage of proceeds from the sale of the Vancouver School Board’s (VSB) own assets. Liquidating assets to address an operating deficit does not address the root problem of the shortfall, which is the failure of government to provide stable, sustainable, and adequate funding for public education to all school districts. We are surprised that the Hon. Mike Bernier is sending in a forensic audit team to conduct a full review of the VSB given that last year’s audit, conducted by EY, found no room for administrative savings outside of closing schools. If this new audit costs taxpayers the same as the prior one, a total of $750,000 will have gone to auditors rather than into our children’s classrooms. As the Minister of Education is aware, the VSB has submitted a Long Range Facilities Plan to meet the arbitrary and educationally unfounded target of 95% capacity utilization mandated by the government as a precondition for funding to seismically upgrade schools. To meet this target, the VSB is considering a list of twelve schools for closure in June 2017. This would be an unprecedented level of simultaneous school closures in BC and would displace 3,188 children currently attending these so called ‘empty’ schools. Sadly, even if the savings from this degree of closures were realized this year, they would only amount to $8.8 million — not even half of the VSB’s current shortfall. A balanced budget is neither evidence of sufficient funding nor indicative of the ability of school boards to provide equitable access to quality public education for all children. We respectfully remind the Minister that for over a decade, structural underfunding has forced school boards across this province to balance their budgets every year on the backs of students, by stripping educational services, increasing class sizes, reducing staffing and closing neighbourhood and community schools. A total of 252 schools across BC have closed since 2002, with a further 22 shuttering this year. Balanced education budgets in this province come at an unacceptable cost to the very students the Minister of Education is sworn to serve. The Hon. Mike Bernier is correct when he says that "parents and students in Vancouver need certainty that every available dollar is going to services and students." Instead of auditing the VSB's accounts, we strongly urge the Minister of Education to look to the findings and recommendations of his government’s own all-party Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services to find a long-term, sustainable solution to the ongoing budget crisis faced by every school district in BC. The Select Standing Committee on Finance & Government Services recommendations:
The only accounts a forensic audit team needs to examine is the Ministry’s deeply flawed per-pupil funding formula that has proved wholly insufficient to provide the children of BC with the facilities and resources they need. PAN calls on the Minister of Education to stop "playing politics" and provide the "stable, sustainable, and adequate funding" necessary to ensure that all children in BC, regardless of race, gender, economic background or ability, have the opportunity to meet their full potential. It is, after all, his legal obligation and duty to do so under the BC School Act. media coverage includes: print: > Roundhouse Radio: parent-advocacy-network-supports-vsbs-budget-refusal On June 20, 2016 the VSB released a list of 12 schools which it is considering for closure: 4 annexes, 6 elementary and 2 secondary schools, all but one on the eastside. PAN recognized the occasion by mourning the over 240 schools across BC which have been forced to close over the past 15 years. Media coverage includes:
pdf version
June 19, 2016 To VBE Trustees, RE: School closure list and repurposing policy We are writing to express our grave concerns with respect to the school closure list to be announced on Monday, June 20th. We understand that this list is intended to expedite a large number of school closures (perhaps as many as 15-18) within the next two years. Since this course of action appears to deviate from the timeline articulated within the consultation process, and the impact of school closures will be felt most acutely by families, we ask that you thoughtfully consider the perspective of parents. We accept the necessity of repurposing (closing) a number of schools as swing sites for moving the SMP forward and ultimately to reduce surplus capacity where current and future catchment populations are truly in decline and are unable to sustain a neighbourhood school. However, we continue to oppose the degree of closures being forced under the 95% utilization targets set by the provincial government as a condition for seismic upgrading. This capacity target, which is not based on educational research or priorities, will severely limit the VSB's ability to provide appropriate learning environments for all children, and we feel particular concern for special needs programs, tier 1 & 2 schools, and the loss of spaces for core educational purposes such as the arts. Now it seems that "affordability measures" are not only forcing this capacity utilization, but accelerating school closures in advance of the timeline originally put forward in the approved LRFP (14 years). We are deeply concerned that the drive to reduce expenditures in the short term is expediting school closures much faster than would be otherwise advisable, and that there will be repercussions for this action that will certainly outweigh some of the short term financial gains. We know from research that school closures will have profound impacts on children and communities, with disproportionate trauma felt by vulnerable populations for whom schools are the primary source of stability and family support (not just services, but also the relational networks which are a life line for many). Though these impacts may not register as itemized ‘cuts’ on a spreadsheet, for many, they will be no less devastating. Vulnerability is more pervasive than it may appear — 22% of children in Vancouver (approximately 11,000 children within the VSB) live in poverty. We are concerned that the VSB has not had sufficient time to gather a 'deep inventory’ of schools to protect these communities for which proximity and community stability are critical. An expedited timeframe and the simultaneous displacement of thousands of children will severely limit the ability of the VSB to adequately support affected families and school communities through this upheaval. Furthermore, fast tracking closures rather than working through the SMP timeframe, will mean that many children will be twice dislocated – first through closure and then for seismic upgrades. This is a heavy toll to place on children and families. The LRFP public consultation built up a great deal of trust with the public particularly around trade-offs that would offset the loss of a neighbourhood school (which is an anchor within a community), with alternate services that would enhance community life. Leasing a vacated school site on publicly reserved land with a playground paid for by parent/PAC funds, to independent/private schools would be a source of tremendous outrage for parents. This point is categorically stated within the LRFP Public Consultation Report. It is crucial that the VSB honour its commitment to affected communities in the appropriate and timely repurposing of vacated sites, consistent with the priorities identified by the public within that consultation process. A compressed timeframe of mass closures would make this extremely challenging. An expedited process would also diminish the district's ability to develop and advocate for creative proposals that could reduce surplus capacity while mitigating the overall number of school closures. Unlike other districts, the VSB has the potential for generating revenue through mixed use vertical schools (commonplace in Toronto, New York and other major urban centres), community focused partnership leases (or partial repurposing) with other service providers (ECE for example) or the partial sale of land to offset rightsizing costs. This would preserve the value of neighbourhood schools, and provide long term revenue sources, while allowing the VSB to continue to design schools for 21st century learning needs. An expedited process of school closure removes any ability to pressure the provincial government to entertain proposals outside of a “stuff and close”, “lowest-cost” seismic procedure, rendering any advocacy to this end moot. Finally, expediting a large number of closures would severely limit the VSB’s ability to respond to changing demographics over the next 14 years (the actual SMP timeframe). A high degree of choice mobility has already been identified as a factor in “under enrolled” schools and, unless the district wishes to engage in a widespread forced expulsion of children, it will take many years to restore balance. In addition, the increasing volatility of the housing market in Vancouver, and the forced migration of families east, will likely change the demographic landscape of this city markedly, even within this timeframe. We believe that there is an inevitability to this closure list that is different than the last time. Simply naming these schools will set in motion a chain reaction of decisions that will begin the decimation of school communities, making the subsequent retraction of any school from the closure list nearly impossible. Osoyoos being a case in point. Therefore, we strongly urge the Vancouver Board of Trustees to slow down this process and limit the public declaration of schools for expedited closure to swing sites (and nonenrolled schools) as originally intended. This will allow the VSB the flexibility it needs to work within the original timeline of the LRFP, to honour the feedback of the public consultation process, to protect the well-being of communities and provide the best educational environments for the children of our city today and the future. Sincerely, The Parent Advocacy Network for Public Education Over 200 schools have been closed in British Columbia over the last fifteen years. Up to 20 more will be announced in Vancouver alone on Monday. Though sometimes it does make sense for a district to close a school, other times closures are forced upon a district by chronic provincial underfunding and an Education Ministry's refusal to provide predictable, stable resources for districts.
Schools are far more than just buildings. They're central to every community they occupy. To treat them as mere vessels of statistics and arbitrary utilization rates is an insult to all the children, teachers, administrators, staff, parents, and community residents whose lives are touched by them. Join us 6:40pm Monday June 20th outside the VSB School Board (10th & Fir) to mourn the loss of all the schools that have been shuttered across our province, and to stand by the Vancouver School Board Trustees who have been fiercely advocating to keep our district's public education system healthy and thriving. Facebook event page Presentation by PAN member Maggie Milne Martens on June 7, 2016 at the VSB Committee of the Whole I am speaking on behalf of the Parent Advocacy Network for Public Education. Here we are again and I thank you for the opportunity to speak to you tonight about the revised budget, but - like you - I am weary and frustrated that we are once more participating in this fraught and distressing process in which parents, teachers and school boards alike are forced to vie for essential educational services for children - just because the provincial government has decided to throw a few crumbs from the table - and they are crumbs. This whole process is symptomatic of an education system in deep crisis. We are not here to debate amendments. We are here to urge you once again to reject this budget. The restoration of 2.25 million dollars, while certainly welcome, does nothing to address the root cause of the budget shortfall - which is a flawed and inadequate provincial funding system - one that is totally insufficient to meet the educational needs of all children. Nor does this mitigate the impacts of the staggering $21.8 million in cuts that remain, all of which will have significant, detrimental and long lasting repercussions for ALL children across this entire district. The relentless austerity measures imposed by the government have gone too far and threatens the whole democratic purpose of our public education system. Meager concessions by the provincial government change nothing. BC Ed is still in the red. The parent advocacy network therefore urges you, the board of trustees to stand firm - and united - in your resolve to reject this budget - as an act of protest against the continued underfunding and dismantling of our public education system. Parents, teachers, concerned citizens of this city and school boards across the province are looking to you - to once again lead by example and have the courage to take a stand for all children, for public education and for our future society. Please say NO. pdf version As you probably have heard, the Ministry of Education decided to return the $25 million in additional 'administrative savings' in its 2016 budget to the school districts to spend as they please. For Vancouver, this means $2.25 million will go back into its 2016/17 budget reducing the shortfalls from $24.05 million to $21.8 million.
As you are probably also aware, the previous budget did not pass on April 28th. Trustees Joy Alexander, Patti Bacchus, Janet Fraser, Mike Lombardi and Alan Wong voted no ... just like we asked them too, the cuts were too severe and would negatively impact all children, especially the more vulnerable. The cuts are still being implemented by the superintendent as he is required to do. He is now implementing the newly revised budget proposal. TONIGHT, there is going to be a Committee of the Whole/Special Board Meeting starting at 5pm. This is another opportunity to tell the trustees what we want them to do, and to show the government that we're paying attention and believe education is a top priority. Will this release of funds by the government be enough to make our 'noise' go away or are there still too many cuts to our children's classroom and support systems? If this revised budget, with $21.8 million in cuts, was presented on March 31 would we still would have said NO, enough is enough and this is too much? Find out tonight. PAN is planning to speak. Join us. Wear your RED. Bring your #BCEDINRED signs. Sign up to speak (sign up is on-site (VSB board office) starting at 4:30pm). NOTE: At ANY board meeting this June, including the one tonight after the presentations, a trustee who voted NO on April 28th can put forth a motion to reconsider that vote. This means the trustees could again vote to amend, pass, or not pass, this revised 'balanced' budget (or a future one if the situation again changes) before June 30th. More information: |
PANPAN updates and news, partner events, and other timely information relating to public school advocacy in and around Vancouver, BC. Archives
June 2020
Categories
All
|