Dear Editor,
Re: “Support staff a priority for Richmond schools,” News, Jan. 11.
Recently, the BC Liberals finally decided to release a portion of the funds needed to correct class sizes and composition after they were found guilty of stripping these from the BCTF contracts way back in 2002.
While this drop in the bucket will bring some sense of relief to starved school districts across the province, it has been reported that these funds will equate to possibly one teacher/specialist added to each school, hardly laying the groundwork for an overhaul to our decimated public school system.
It has already been proven that the BC Liberals’ per-pupil funding model doesn’t work, with districts all across the province having to make cuts after cuts to services and staff. We also know that the government has not been forthcoming with any funds for seismic upgrades. In Richmond, we still have 50 per cent of our schools requiring some type of seismic upgrades with the last project completed way back in 2011. Even with our local Liberal MLAs publicly stating there is $560 million earmarked for seismic upgrades, none of our schools in Richmond have been approved for remediation. The only school which moved to the “Business Case Development” stage is Gilmore, which the government has proposed to be demolished, sending kids to neighbouring schools permanently. This is what they call an upgrade.
This government is even dragging its feet when it comes to following through with promised expansion plans. One year ago, Anderson elementary, which is close to 140 per cent capacity, received word it would be funded for a long-overdue expansion to the school. After a convenient photo op for the BC Liberal party, which made the announcement, Anderson folks are still waiting in a grossly overcrowded school. All the while, the government has been withholding hundreds of millions of our dollars annually from our schools. What did they do with all that money that should have gone to fund public education for so many years?
As of today, we have kids who have had to endure their whole academic experience in overcrowded classrooms without the supports they are legally entitled to. Kids have been forced to take turns seeing special resource teachers or not having access to any supports at all and waiting years for proper assessments.
It is entirely misleading of the government now to claim that it is time to “invest” in our kids. I’d like to remind everyone that this government lost a 14-year court case and releasing the first installment of $50 million dollars is actually their penalty for breaking the law. In no way is this money being given as an act of good faith or a change of heart or because they are finally listening to voters.
Kim Nowitsky
Richmond
