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.
1 Comment
THANK YOU to all who have supported our activities and efforts recently with our postcard campaign and online petition. We currently have over 1600 signatures with more still coming in!
Keep sharing the cards and the petition! http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/305/769/792/ BIG thanks to all who helped make our media event at the Premier's office yesterday a huge success. We believe the more awareness we can generate and the more information we can help circulate, the more people will ask questions and demand answers! Both PAN and FACE received great media coverage over the last few days in major outlets - TV, radio and print/online. Check out our website for links and information. REPRESENTATION AND MEMBERS We now have PAN representation at 49 schools across Vancouver! This is increasing steadily and with broader school representation, the stronger our voice to the VSB and other stakeholders. Attached is our PAN Backgrounder document which can be shared with PACs and parents, posted to bulletin boards etc. NEXT MEETING Our next PAN meeting is scheduled for next week on Monday February 1, 7:00-9:00pm, at the Tipper (2066 Kingsway, back room) We invite you to join us and other like-minded parents and contribute your ideas and action. JOIN OUR GOOGLE DISCUSSION GROUP JOIN US ON SOCIAL MEDIA Like it? Share it! Twitter: PAN Vancouver @PAN_Vancouver Facebook: www.facebook.com/PANVancouver As you are aware, we have all been very busy collecting both signed postcards and online signatures as part of our "I Stand with the Standing Committee" campaign. We are still gathering both - and the numbers are growing - but we are going ahead with our planned event to pass all we have to Mr. Bernier/Premier Clark next week.
Representatives of PAN will be presenting the materials to staff at Premier Clark's office on Tuesday January 26th. We will need a large group of parents/PAN members to attend to show support (numbers) as we are pushing this to the media (on Monday) in the hopes of getting coverage and generating greater awareness within the Vancouver parent community. WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT AND ATTENDANCE!
Please RSVP BY SATURDAY JANUARY 23 by emailing us at [email protected] We need to know how big our group will be and work on the final logistics before Tuesday. We hope we can count on you to make time to show your support. ~ Andrea Sinclair for PAN IMPORTANT
The Parent Advocacy Network (PAN), in conjunction with Families Against Cuts to Education (FACE), is targeting the provincial government with a goal to deliver hundreds of paper postcards - campaign well underway - and thousands of online signatures from citizens declaring “I Stand with the Standing Committee”. Our goal is to make a bulk delivery of both signed postcards and online signatures to the Minister of Education demonstrating that parents will be holding his government accountable to adequately fund public education. We need your help in spreading the word! We hope that you will join us by sharing the link below with fellow parents, neighbours, family and friends and through your own social networks. http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/305/769/792/ The all-party provincial Select Standing Committee on Finance & Government Services Report of Budget 2016 Consultations found - for the second year in a row - that the top priority for British Columbians is K-12 education funding. Sadly, these have previously been ignored. They cannot be ignored in Budget 2016! The Select Standing Committee on Finance & Government Services recommendations: 1. Provide adequate capital funding to school districts for facility improvements/seismic upgrades/additional schools 2. Provide stable, sustainable and adequate funding to enable school districts to fulfill responsibilities to continue to provide access to quality public education, with recognition of the increased costs school districts have incurred. 3. Review the Ministry of Education funding formula for programs and services, as well as administrative staff compensation levels to ensure adequate and competitive compensation. Sign the online card petition NOW and "Stand with the Standing Committee"! Thank you for helping spread the word! The more signatures we gain, the stronger our collective voice! Together we can make a difference! |
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
|
RSS Feed