Dear Editor:
Just filling in some missing numbers at the April 24 all-candidates meeting in New Westminster.
Liberal candidate, Hector Bremner spent time quoting the Liberal party line, often rechecking his notes to make sure that he had correctly read the "facts" about education funding provided by his party.
He was correct in stating his party "has increased funding since it became the ruling party more than a decade ago."
What he neglected to tell the public was that our children's education has slipped as a priority in the provincial budget from 26 per cent 10 years ago to just 15 per cent today.
Rising cost pressures have far outstripped government increases to the budget; funding increases have not been large enough to preserve the same levels of services students had a decade ago; during the past decade the number of full-time equivalent educators has increased by five per cent in Canada and decreased by two per cent in B.C.; and in major key indicators used by Statistics Canada, B.C. ranked tenth out of 10 in percentage increases in education spending.
Per-student operating expenditures in B.C. in 2005/06 were $131 above the Canadian average, but in 2009/10 were $412 below the Canadian average.
During the last decade in B.C., underfunding has led to a loss of 752 special education teachers; the loss of a third of all ELL (English Language Learners) teachers - a decline of 340 teachers even although the number of ELL students has increased; the number of counsellors in the system dropped by 117 (while the demand for their assistance has increased); the number of teacher-librarians has declined by 30 per cent at a time when the demands of rapid change in new technology have dramatically increased and led to rapidly increasing numbers of overcrowded classes with a more complex composition of students with broad ranges of needs.
Locally, insufficient government funding has led to the need for recent massive layoffs in the New Westminster school district. Guess he just forgot to mention that part.
Even with all this, Mr. Bremner focused on the point that our system is "just racing to mediocrity," neglecting to mention that New Westminster has proven itself over and over again, on provincial, national and international assessments, in the academics, arts and athletics, to have outstanding students, reflecting a world class education system.
To suggest racing towards mediocrity is an insult all the hard work done in this city by the students, school staff, school board, parents and the community itself.
Bruce McCloy, via email
