When a school has 10, or 20, fewer students in it than it did the year before, there is still the same amount of school to maintain, clean, and run. What has been missing from the discussions around school board budgeting and school closure decisions throughout the South Okanagan is the cause of budget shortfalls. The government wants to place the blame on declining enrollment.

Pundits and parents keep yelling at the trustees for making bad decisions. The trustees could close your neighbours school instead of yours, cut more into the classrooms, or they could tell the government no, and be fired.

The Cowichan board was replaced when it would not do the dirty work of the government.

The problem is not what to cut or which schools to close. The problem is that the provincial government has been underfunding education for years. You could believe the lie that they chant of “More funding than ever”. Are you not spending more on electricity than ever before? Costs increase. But, in the case of the education budget, funding does not. While the enrollment has seen a drop in the last few years in SD67, (2013/14 = 5864 and 2014/15 = 5757 and 2015/16 = 5743) the cuts to the local budget have been deep.

Christy Clark demanded district cut $54 million dollars of “low hanging fruit” in 2015. This year another $29 million in cuts was demanded. Shocked districts had another $15 million in cuts dropped on them mid-year, although there was enough rumbling that this most recent theft was reversed. On top of these cuts are the cost increases, such as electricity, MSP premiums, fuel, and almost all other spending school boards must do. These increased costs go without the corresponding funding increase.
The government funds education on a per pupil system. So, when they increase this funding amount by a few dollars per head, they feel entitled to chant, “More funding than ever”. The Government negotiated a small raise with the Principals and Vice-Principals Association recently. These folks had not seen any increase in years. However, the 2% increase in those salaries this year had to come from the school districts existing budgets. That is the problem. The government raises costs but does not fund those costs. School boards are faced with the impossible task of running schools without the money to pay the costs which the government controls.

Do not hold the trustees’ feet to the fire and allow the smell of burning flesh to distract you from the truth. It is the choices the provincial government makes which close schools. This government also increased funding to independent schools last year by $29 million dollars. The parents in Osoyoos who are speaking about running their high school as an independent school may be playing into this government’s hands. It appears they are cutting public education piece-by-piece until they can claim that it does not work anymore. Where were the local MLAs during these months of school closure debates? It appears that they do not care about public education.

Kevin J. Epp
Regional Partnership Coordinator (Okanagan)
Gonzaga University