A delegation from Powell River attended the BC School Trustee Association’s (BCSTA) annual general meeting and had the opportunity to take their concerns to the education minister.
School District 47 superintendent of schools Jay Yule and members of Powell River Board of Education attended the meeting in Vancouver on Thursday, April 24, to Sunday, April 27.
Yule said there was widespread concern about the teachers’ contract, getting to a settlement without disrupting school and the province’s decision to have school districts contribute funding to capital building projects.
Boards have to contribute up to 50 per cent of the project depending on how much money they have available in their capital reserves, said Yule.
Delegates to the AGM had the opportunity to hear from Peter Fassbender, education minister, and BC Teachers’ Federation president Jim Iker about the situation.
Yule said the Powell River school board has been urging government and BC Public School Employers’ Association to find a way to come to a settlement with the striking teachers’ union.
“Our major concern is that there isn’t a disruption to students and the longer this goes on the higher the likelihood that there may be more disruption,” said Yule. “No one wants that.”
Trustees from Powell River were able to meet with the education minister to bring up two important issues around summer funding and BC Ferries.
“We really had the opportunity to lay out our concerns to the minister and his staff and he assured us that he would get back to us with some answers,” said Yule.
The board is looking for some clarity around why some school districts on the coast and Gulf Islands have free ferry travel for their students, but Powell River, one of the most ferry-dependent communities on the coast, does not.
“We’ve been asking for the past four or five years about what is the rationale and the mechanics behind it,” said Yule.
The other issue is around funding restrictions for summer programs. “We’re really concerned that it could eliminate all summer programs,” said Yule.
Originally, summer programs were funded as additional money, outside of block funding, he said. “It was given to us as a solution to make sure that school districts could provide summer programs outside of the regular block funding,” he said, adding that the district was provided with the money for a few years. Recently the district has been told that because it is in funding protection (due to declining enrollment), the province will not give additional funds to run summer programs.
That could mean that the district would be unable to offer summer classes, outdoor leadership, and literacy programs.
“We can’t charge for [summer programs] and it’s not in our regular 10-month block of money, so it’s a major concern for us,” he said. It could cause an inequity between school districts if some, which do not have declining enrollment, are able to offer summer programs and others are not.
“If you’re not in decline you can get extra funding but if you’re in decline you can’t,” he said. “It’s a little ironic.”
Despite his concerns, Yule believes the minister listened and understood the board’s concerns. He is hoping for a resolution that is favourable for Powell River students.
