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The Parent Advocacy Network is relieved to see a budget that emphasizes childcare and early childhood education and that doesn't explicitly cut education funding. However, we are disappointed that K–12 education funding seems to be only sufficient to maintain the status quo. There are some savings that the boards will be able to keep and spend at their discretion, such as savings from the Next Generation Network implementation and pension over-contributions, but these do not amount to enough to reverse the losses of the last several years. Districts may see some relief through the 50% MSP cut, but how their portion of the new employers’ health tax will be funded is yet to be seen.
This means that boards don’t have much, if any, new/increased funding to restore programs and services (such as fine arts programs, gifted programs, and custodial services) that they have cut in previous years due to the need to balance budgets. It also means that children with special needs will continue to go without the level of Education Assistant time and other services that they deserve in order to fully access the public education system, which is their right, and long waitlists for assessments will continue to delay diagnoses for children who are struggling to keep up. On the capital side, the playground fund is much appreciated, but it is important to recognize that parents fundraise for much more than just playgrounds: PAN did a survey in 2016 that showed that parents are fundraising for necessities such as fine arts programming, books, and sex education. The budget introduced last week will not reduce schools' need to rely on parents to raise supplemental funds for these items, and it does not address the inequities that result from this situation. In terms of seismic replacement schools, new schools, and getting children out of portables, we are glad to hear that the government is committed to speeding up its work in these areas; we look forward to not just announcements, but shovels in the ground and children in safe schools. (download pdf)
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Today PAN submitted the following to the K–12 Public Education Funding Model Review Committee.
(download pdf which includes footnotes) Thank you for the opportunity to provide input on the education funding model review. The Parent Advocacy Network for Public Education is a grassroots group of parents who have children in public schools in the Vancouver and Victoria areas; we also have connections with parents across the province. We are writing to highlight issues that we would like to see resolved in whatever the new model may be, as well as questions that will be important for the funding review committee to consider. It is essential to note that, ultimately, the most important factors are the adequacy, predictability, and stability of funding coming from the province. Without these, any funding model will be doomed to fail. The current funding model puts the onus on districts to decide which programs and schools to fund in their yearly requirement to balance their budgets. Districts have attempted to protect what they consider “core” classroom programs by reducing or cutting altogether items such as education assistant hours, maintenance and custodial services, and music, fine arts, and gifted programs. This has led to a situation where districts vary in the services and programs offered. Even within districts, schools vary in programming depending on PAC fundraising for items now considered “optional.” Our survey of PAC fundraising demonstrated that PACs subsidize much more than the clichéd playground construction. PAC fundraising pays for music instruction, art instruction, sexual education, classroom supplies, books, art materials, PE equipment, and technology, to name just a few. Furthermore, as the range of programming offered by schools is reduced, parents and families have to spend increasing amounts of money on items like art instruction, music instruction, and supplies for their individual children. This is in addition to contributing to the funds raised by their PACs. The parents of children who need support but are not considered “highest need”—and therefore do not receive enough or any resource teacher support—spend money on tutoring in basic literacy, reading, and math. High school students increasingly require tutoring because they are taking online courses due to reduced course offerings in school. The inequities that exist in this situation are stark and alarming. No child’s quality of education should depend on their parents’ ability to fundraise or to outsource educational support. Whether children receive a well-rounded education, which includes exposure to the arts and music, should not depend on which programs the district decides to cut that year. The effects of budget cuts and increasing inequities have been felt even more severely by students with special needs, as advocacy groups such as BCEdAccess and Inclusion BC have demonstrated. The absence of specialized arts teachers and dedicated rooms for arts education has been institutionalized in the Area Standards policy, which sets out how new schools will be constructed. The Area Standards policy requires elementary schools to be built without dedicated rooms for the arts and with very little space outside of enrolling classrooms. Dedicated funding for arts education at the elementary level and a change to the Area Standards policy to allow art rooms to be built are necessary in order to reverse the disappearance of fine arts from BC’s elementary schools. We would like to see the Ministry re-centralize the task of deciding what is necessary and included in a quality public education, fund those programs adequately, and fund them transparently. This would include designating specific funding for specific programs and costs—such as arts instruction, educational assistant time, custodial services, technology—so that money intended for one use cannot be spent for another purpose by the district. There may also be opportunities to look to other ministries to fund costs that the Ministry of Education currently bears. Many schools perform services that may fall under the purviews of the ministries of Health, Children and Families, and Mental Health and Addictions. By looking for opportunities to use schools as hubs for “wraparound services,” communities will be better served and costs could be borne across ministries. In short, a successful funding review will include the questions: What is included in a quality public education? How do we make sure educational services are delivered equitably? and What is the role of the school in the community? Sincerely, The Parent Advocacy Network (download pdf version) Joint Statement by PAN and FACE on the Supreme Court of Canada’s Decision in the BCTF Case We know that many parents have questions about the meaning and impact of the Supreme Court’s recent decision. What follows is a brief explanation of the decision, its consequences, and the ongoing concerns of the Parent Advocacy Network (PAN) and Families Against Cuts to Education (FACE) with regard to the underfunding of public education in BC. The Supreme Court’s decision On November 10, 2016, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) ruled in favour of the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF). The ruling ended the long-running dispute between the BCTF and the BC government that began in 2002 when the BC government used legislation to strip class size and composition matters out of the teachers’ collective agreement (contract). The SCC did not write reasons of its own; it adopted the reasons of Mr. Justice Donald’s dissent in the BC Court of Appeal. The essence of Mr. Justice Donald’s decision is that the BC government did not bargain in good faith before it brought in a second round of legislation in 2012, after the 2002 legislation was found unconstitutional. Therefore, the BC government’s 2012 legislation, which was very similar to the 2002 legislation, was also unconstitutional. As a remedy, Mr. Justice Donald ordered that the stripped class size and composition sections must be returned to the collective agreement immediately. As of 2014, the collective agreement between the BCTF and the BC government contains a clause that says “If the final judgment affects the content of the collective agreement by fully or partially restoring the 2002 language, the parties will reopen the collective agreement on this issue and the parties will bargain from the restored language.” What the decision means and doesn’t mean The combined effect of the court decision and the clause in the collective agreement means that the BCTF and the BC government must now engage in good faith negotiations on the topic of class size and composition, with the restored language as a starting point for those negotiations. It is important to understand the legal meaning of “good faith” in collective bargaining. Here is how Mr. Justice Donald explained it in his reasons: Parties are required to meet and engage in meaningful dialogue where positions are explained and each party reads, listens to, and considers representations made by the other party. Parties’ positions must not be inflexible and intransigent, and parties must honestly strive to find a middle ground. The BCTF’s court victory does not mean that we are immediately transported back to the school conditions that existed in 2002, prior to the unconstitutional legislation. It means that the BCTF and the BC government must meet and do their good-faith best to reach an agreement on class size and composition. PAN and FACE hope that both parties will do what is right for our kids. Since the 2002 contract stripping, our kids have been in larger classes with fewer supports, and we have seen crucial non-enrolling positions like art teachers, librarians, counselors, ELL teachers, and Special Education teachers disappear from our children’s schools. The court’s ruling also doesn’t mean that public education’s underfunding problem is solved. While the negotiations will hopefully lead to better supports for kids and more non-enrolling teachers in schools, there are costs that fall outside the collective agreement that have increased and not been funded, and those are not solved with this decision. For instance, the BC government has required school districts to upgrade their internet connectivity but has not funded that work (Next Generation Network). The BC government has also agreed that principals and other administrators should get a much-delayed raise, but has not increased funding to the districts to enable them to pay these raises without making cuts elsewhere. There are many other such costs; these are just two examples to demonstrate that underfunding is not solved by the resolution of the BCTF’s case. We are pleased that Mr. de Jong, BC’s Minister of Finance, has declared his desire to immediately begin negotiations in good faith with the BCTF. We remind the Minister that increasing funding to ameliorate class size and composition is only the first step in restoring a level of funding for public education sufficient for all of BC's children to have access to the staff, resources, and facilities they need for a quality education that meets their learning needs. Parents are still fundraising for essential resources such as library books, classroom furniture, technology, and arts programming, and there are still tens of thousands of children in schools across BC that remain at high risk of structural failure in the event of an earthquake. A net increase in funding is required PAN and FACE will continue to advocate for adequate funding that covers all the costs of equitably providing quality public education. We also must be vigilant to ensure that, if the BC government is required to put more money into public education in order to fund increased staffing levels required by any agreement it may reach with the BCTF, it does not “make up” for that increased funding by clawing back money from other areas of public education. There is history to support this caution: In 2014, the BC government promised to “fully fund” the costs of the settlement it reached with the BCTF that year; yet in Budget 2015, the BC government forced districts to make $54 million in “administrative” cuts. Due to the years of previous cuts leaving no “low hanging fruit” to cut, those “administrative” cuts resulted in direct effects on kids and their ability to equitably access quality public education. We will be watching to make sure that the BC government does not attempt to minimize the costs of a negotiated agreement on class size and composition by making cuts in other areas such as seismic upgrades, maintenance, and support services. There is no area of public education in which further cuts can be justified. What public education needs is improved, stable, predictable funding that allows districts to provide quality education to all learners in seismically safe buildings. *** Useful links
George Heyman, MLA asked us two questions after our presentation to the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services on Monday, September 19, 2016. We would really appreciate your help answering them.
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. FACE (Families Against Cuts to Education) has provided a very simple email tool here. Use and share!  Times and locations for Public Input IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR ALL VANCOUVER PARENTS
April 11: VSB just added a third evening of public consultations. Wednesday, April 13 7-11pm at the VSB Board Office, 1580 W. Broadway April 10: updated to included revised budget proposals and public consultation information. Please read and share widely & quickly through your networks so we reach as many parents as possible. Parents need to stand up and demonstrate wide public concern about the VSB budget to help pressure the Government. We strongly encourage all PACs to register (via email to [email protected]a) and send at least 1 person to present at a VSB Public Budget Consultation. Please send as many parents as possible to attend. Currently the sessions on April 12 and April 14 are full but VSB is extending the time to 10:30pm and may be adding a third session on April 13 (VSB will announce via social media on Monday). The need for more sessions means .... the parents are speaking out! Background The Vancouver School Board was facing a budget shortfall of $27.26 million dollars. The April 4 funding announcement by the Ministry of Education and the fact that no students are registered to attend Henderson Annex this fall have reduced this by $3.2 million to just over $24 million – this is still the worst projected shortfall since 2002. The School Act prohibits a School Board from presenting an unbalanced budget so many cuts have been proposed. The Proposed Budget The proposed cuts — HUGE, highly detrimental and long-lasting to services for our children, which we may never get back — will have SIGNIFICANT impact to ALL children across this district. They will affect every family and the effects of the cuts will be felt for years to come. The CUTS include:
Our Ask The public have been invited to give feedback to the VSB regarding this proposed budget on April 12 at 7pm at Van Tech Secondary School and April 14th at 5pm at the VSB Offices on West Broadway. We ask parents and strongly urge each and every school/PAC to send at LEAST one representative to express concerns and indicate how these budget cuts will directly affect children in their school. If you are unsure how your school or your child(ren) will be affected, ask your administrator who will easily be able to tell you. PLEASE REGISTER ASAP - via email at [email protected]. The April 12 and 14 public sessions are currently full but they have extended the time and will add another session on April 13 if needed. Your "speech" need only be one or two minutes. What is most important is showing wide public concern about the contents of this budget to put pressure on the Government. PLEASE EVERYONE ACT NOW AND PLAN TO ATTEND ON APRIL 12 @ 7:00pm, AND/OR APRIL 14 @ 5:00pm More Information VSB 2016/17 budget process and timeline Updated preliminary budget proposals FROM A PAN PARTNER: The Show Up for Gifted Education! rally will be outside Van Tech at 6:00 pm. We will set up a mini-educational fair where students from gifted programs will display their work. If your child would like to take part, that would be wonderful. There is an event page on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/218537988502232/permalink/219004938455537/ VSB cuts will eliminate many services including gifted education. Currently, 1200 students per year are being serviced through all VSB gifted programs. Although many of these programs are in elementary schools, many of these students move on to mini schools in high schools and the mini schools are losing their support staff.
Challenge Centre: eliminated Seminar program: eliminated Mentorship program: eliminated Part time psychologist: eliminated Gifted coordinator: eliminated If you have parents and students at your school who will be affected and upset by these cuts, please consider forwarding them items 2-6 on this list. Items 1 and 7 are things you can do directly. 1. Write an email to VESTA, detailing your concerns, as they will be advocating for us and students at the upcoming stakeholder consultations. 2. Direct parents and students to Marlene Rodgers. She is the point person for parent mobilization. 3. Parents can also check out PAGES (Parents Advocating for Gifted Education in Schools) for updates on how to help. It is here: https://www.facebook.com/BCPAGES/ 4. Parents and students can write letters to trustees, sharing their stories of what gifted education means to them. Their emails can be found here:https://www.vsb.bc.ca/about-vsb/trustees 5. Parents and students can sign up to speak at the public hearings by going here: https://www.vsb.bc.ca/node/6516 6. Parents and students can simply show up at the hearing with signs and support. 7. Please consider forwarding this to your colleagues (via personal email only), so they can forward to their parents. If these cuts go through, this will be the death of gifted education in the VSB. MACC will not survive without the outreach programs, and soon high school programs will be affected as well. Update: Presentation here.
On Wednesday, April 13, in the midst of the largest budget deficit in decades, PAN will be presenting a plea for a renewed vision and commitment from the VSB to restoring a comprehensive arts education for all children in elementary Vancouver. The arts are essential to the intellectual and social emotional development of young children and to the health of our future society. They are also part of the BC curriculum and central to the core competencies that form the underlying framework of the new curriculum (critical thinking, communication and cultural identity). Given that participation in the arts for children and youth is also shown to significantly improve outcomes for disadvantaged children and youth in academic success, employment and civic engagement, the loss of arts from schools is also a matter of social justice. All children need and deserve education in the arts to enable them to develop their full potential. Over the last two decades, the arts have been decimated through loss of district staffing, specialist teachers and resources. Only half of elementary schools have music teachers, only 2 have art teachers. Arts programs are now largely sustained through private donation or PAC fundraising which creates inequalities of access between schools. This years budget will see the loss of the last Fine arts district staff person and therefore the loss of all arts enrichment programs – which for many children are their only exposure to the arts. And finally, the few remaining arts spaces utilized in the district threaten to be eliminated under the ministry’s 95% capacity mandate to rationalize schools. While we fully acknowledge the fiscal constraints of the district, we are asking trustees to commit to re-prioritizing arts education within Vancouver Schools as part of their 5 year strategic plan. To this end we are hosting a roundtable think tank drawing on arts experts across educational and civic communities to begin a creative conversation and think of ways we can sustainably work together to ensure all Vancouver children have access to a quality arts education as part of their elementary schooling. We invite you to show your support for this motion by attending the public presentation at Committee III of the Vancouver School Board on Wednesday, April 13 at 5pm. A large number of attendees gives a visible indication of parent priorities. There may also be opportunity to speak with trustees. If you are unable to attend we encourage you to write to the parent advocacy network and/or your trustee and express your concerns for the loss of the arts within Vancouver public schools. BC Budget 2016: Proposed K-12 Funding. Why has the government de-prioritized public education?4/1/2016 Update April 26: Please read these questions in conjunction with our April 26 post which contains some answers as well as some updates/corrections to the figures in this document.
News Release Questions April 1, 2016 “Why has the government de-prioritized public education?” Parent Advocacy Network for Public Education Questions BC Budget 2016 VANCOUVER -- Following the February 16 announcement of BC Budget 2016, and in anticipation of the Ministry of Education budget estimates being discussed in the Legislature, members of the Parent Advocacy Network for Public Education (PAN) have been examining the funding figures and have posed a number of questions about the K-12 education budget. Taking into account inflation, Ministry of Education funding has fallen by 11% since 2002. Furthermore, the percentage of nominal GDP that BC spends on education as a function has also decreased since 2002. Economic growth has not been reflected in education funding. Our over-arching question is “Why has the government de-prioritized public education?” Supporting this over-arching question are several detail-oriented questions that result from a close examination of the education funding figures. As citizens, parents, and taxpayers in British Columbia, PAN members are looking for answers to these questions in order to understand how funding is allocated to the school districts, independent (private) schools, and other partners. PAN has submitted these questions to the BC Liberal government, the NDP opposition, the Green Party, and the Independent MLAs in the Legislature, as well as to the media. PAN hopes to gain a better understanding of the budget details in the answers to these questions. PAN also hopes that by asking these questions, and prompting others to ask them too, some light will be shed on the stark reality that education funding in BC is inadequate. It is time to take action to put education back in the priority position it deserves. -30- Supporting Resources • Web: http://www.panvancouver.ca/ • Twitter: @PAN_Vancouver • Facebook: www.facebook.com/PANVancouver • Email: [email protected] About the Parent Advocacy Network The Parent Advocacy Network for Public Education (PAN), formed in 2015, is a grassroots collective of parents from over 49 schools (and growing) across Vancouver who share a commitment to public education. Our mission is to connect parents across the district to support one another in advocacy. The network enables us to share information, experiences and stand together in protecting public education. Media Contacts Jennifer Stewart, 604-790-9929, [email protected] © 2016 Parent Advocacy Network for Public Education. All rights reserved.  February 19, 2016 “We are failing our future.” Parent Advocacy Network for Public Education and Families Against Cuts to Education Respond to BC Budget 2016 VANCOUVER — To the great disappointment of the Parent Advocacy Network (PAN) and Families Against Cuts to Education (FACE), and to the detriment of our children’s education, the BC government again cut education funding in Budget 2016. A further $25 million in "administrative" cuts will be taken from public education this year. By contrast, private school funding is increasing by $48 million, for a total of $358 million in tax dollars going to private schools. “Last year’s round of ‘administrative’ cuts saw Boards cutting crucial items like school buses, custodial services, and even Education Assistant hours, so these cuts directly affect our children,” said Jennifer Stewart, parent and co-founder of FACE. “There is nothing left to cut and we are hearing more and more frequently about Boards closing entire schools in order to achieve ‘administrative’ savings.” The government says that it is committing more funding than ever to education; what the government doesn’t say is that the increase is only enough to cover negotiated wage increases, and does not even match the rate of inflation, let alone cover rising costs. This is an effective hidden cut to the operating budget, in addition to the outright ‘administrative’ cuts. “The Budget demonstrates that public education and our children are not a priority for government,” said Andrea Sinclair, parent, PAC Chair, and co-founder of PAN. “Prior to BC Budget 2016, we campaigned for the government to listen to the Finance Committee’s recommendations for increased funding for public education. Citizens across BC signed the petition and sent postcards to the government, but they were ignored.” “It is shocking that the government has money for a ‘Prosperity Fund’ when many vulnerable children come to school hungry and school boards are struggling to provide breakfast and lunch programs,” said parent and PAN co-founder Maggie Milne Martens. Jennifer Stewart says that FACE and PAN will continue to advocate for adequate public education funding: “Education is a promise we make to our children, an investment in the future of our province, and a societal good that benefits all. When we fail to fund it adequately, we are failing our future.” -30- Supporting Resources Web: http://www.panvancouver.ca/ https://facebc.wordpress.com/ Twitter: @PAN_Vancouver @FACE_BC Facebook: facebook.com/PANVancouver www.facebook.com/FACEVancouver Email: [email protected] About the Parent Advocacy Network The Parent Advocacy Network for Public Education (PAN), formed in 2015, is a grassroots collective of parents from over 49 schools (and growing) across Vancouver who share a commitment to public education. Our mission is to connect parents across the district to support one another in advocacy. The network enables us to share information, experiences and 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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