Public Education
BC School Closures: A Cure Worse Than the Disease
The number shut by BC's Liberals is 176 and climbing, but here's why the savings will likely prove a mirage.
Forty-four of B.C.'s 60 school districts have closed 176 schools since 2002, and over 50 more closures are certain or threatened over the next couple of years. But demographic projections suggest that closures are a short-term solution that will create a long-term problem.
B.C. school trustees to superintendents: We need more information
Study shows 50% rise in likelihood of England's poorest teenagers going to university since mid-90s
Findings follow report on growing inequalities. Richest teenagers much more likely to do degree
Teenagers from the poorest homes in England are 50% more likely to go to university than they were 15 years ago, according to a study that will be welcomed by the government after other recent reports found that Britain had become a more unequal nation.
The government-commissioned Hills report, published yesterday, showed inequality is greater than it was in 1980.
Cariboo-Chilcotin trustees ready to break law about budgets
School trustees in Cariboo-Chilcotin say they will draft a budget to maintain quality education, even if it means breaking the law, according to a story in the Williams Lake Tribune."The board will develop a budget for the coming year that retains quality education for our students," trustee Bruce Mack is quoted as saying. "We recognize that with the current funding projections that this may mean a deficit budget."
School districts warn of teacher layoffs and school closures
The Vancouver school district issued layoff warnings Tuesday to hundreds of teachers, while Prince George trustees began a difficult discussion about the possible closure of 13 elementary, middle and secondary schools.Around the province, school officials say they will enter 2010-11 budget deliberations with trepidation because small increases in provincial education grants are expected to be insufficient to cover the rising cost of teacher salaries, pensions, medical service premiums, BC Hydro and carbon neutrality.
Budget miscalculation puts strain on schools
As public enrolment exceeds province's estimate, ministry uses up reserve funds to compensate – giving schools less to work with
Higher-than-expected enrolment in B.C. public schools this year has blown a $32-million hole in the province's education resources.
Teachers get time-off compensation in class size/composition feud
Teachers must be compensated with extra paid holidays if their classrooms were set up in violation of provincial law about class size and composition, arbitrator James Dorsey has ruled.
Although the decision applies directly to only 21 teachers in four school districts, it will form the basis for settling thousands of other grievances filed by the B.C. Teachers' Federation (BCTF) alleging that school districts around the province have ignored the rules in Bill 33 since it became law in 2006.
BC Schools seek relief from HST
B.C. school officials are asking for a partial rebate of the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), saying it will be a significant drain on school district budgets otherwise.
In a letter to Finance Minister Colin Hansen, the B.C. Association of School Business Officials say a rebate of 68 per cent would ensure the HST creates no additional costs for school districts when it takes effect in July 2010.
The arts help us all to engage in life
The only time my education was interrupted was when I was in school. George Bernard Shaw
Time for the school year to shed farm-based schedule
If you asked the average city-raised student when and how corn is harvested you would probably get a blank stare. Not surprisingly. In Canada, farming is a dying way of life. Many children have never seen a working farm, let alone spent time in the back 40 doing chores.
And yet the system in which those children will spend their formative years is designed around the ebb and flow of farm life. Which doesn't really make sense.
