In last week's paper, Education Minister Shirley Bond said she wanted to set the record straight on education but it is clear from her response that she is not getting her information from the right people. Her letter was 390 words of statistics and slogans that mean little when compared to the realities in British Columbian classrooms.
Over the last week I have met with school trustees, parent advisory committees and teachers and they all tell me the same thing: the level of funding for the public school system is resulting in fewer services being provided to students. Period.
Minister Bond says that we are spending more on education than ever before.
You are also spending more on gas to fill your tank than ever before, but that doesn't mean you can drive any further.
Minister Bond says that education is a priority for her government but still she can justify the closure of rural schools, the removal of teacher-librarians and cuts to special education. I have not met anyone in the education system who really thinks education is a priority for this government.
Statistics Canada data indicates that British Columbia has the worst teacher/student ratio in the country; that is bigger classes with fewer teachers. No government with education as its priority would choose to be last on this list.
The measurement used by UNICEF to gauge a jurisdiction's commitment to education compares education spending to gross domestic product (GDP).
In British Columbia, education spending against GDP has consistently fallen since 2001 when the Liberals came to power.
Data being used by the Liberal's own Education Roundtable indicates that 6,320 classes in British Columbia have four or more students with special needs who require an individual education plan (IEP). Even more shocking, there are classes in British Columbia that have more than 33 students with 10 of those students requiring IEPs.
Trustees, teachers, parents and students say that our education system is crumbling due to the Campbell Liberal's under-funding. No matter what the Liberals say that is the real state of public education in British Columbia today.
Norm Macdonald, Columbia River - Revelstoke MLA,
Opposition Critic for Education