President sends letter to the Vancouver Courier

June 27, 2010
Letter to The Vancouver Courier
Re: VSB cuts $16m from budget, June 25

The Education Minister is sounding like a broken record with her scripted verbiage about the findings of B.C. Comptroller General’s report recently completed on the Vancouver School Board. I think it’s time Ms. MacDiarmid does her homework and reads page 4 of the report which sheds light on what is the real problem of our public education – the Minister of Education. Tucked away on page 4 are the sharp words, "the Ministry of Education could provide stronger leadership by preparing a long term education plan for the province, articulating the vision for education, and its objectives and strategies. Given that schools are a significant investment in public resources, the education plan could cover a period of 5 to 10 years. This would provide support to districts in their long term strategic planning and provide increased stability to districts and transparency to the public".

The lack of long-term planning and the ongoing claw back of funding are the reasons why our provincial public education systems have fallen apart under the B.C. Liberals. It looks to me like the Comptroller General is telling Ms. MacDiarmid to get her house in order. After hearing reports from other B.C. school districts about the shortage of funding the rookie Education Minister should stop acting like a school yard bully and start advocating for proper sustained funding for B.C. school districts.

Paul Faoro
President
CUPE Local 15
Vancouver