(The following article is from the April 16-30,  2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)

PV Vancouver Bureau

     Faced with the biggest funding crisis in its history, several Vancouver School Board trustees have warned that they will not vote for the preliminary budget presented on April 7 by the VSB's senior management. Teachers' unions also gave an immediate thumbs down to the budget, which would eliminate 190 full-time equivalent positions.

     School boards across British Columbia are struggling with an  estimated $200 million funding shortfall for the 2010-11 term. Vancouver alone is looking at a shortfall of $18.1 million in a total budget of about $450 million. Prohibited from operating a deficit (unlike higher levels of government), VSB officials propose to slash millions of dollars from special needs students, inner city schools, English as a secondary language (ESL) and many other programs. Ten instructional days will be cut from the school calendar. The next step, in the 2011-12 school year, would include school closures.

     The three Coalition of Progressive Electors trustees, Allen Blakey, Allan Wong and Jane Bouey, announced that as it stands, they could not vote for the preliminary budget.

      "The provincial government's deliberate under-funding and cutbacks are responsible for this budget that does not meet the needs of the children and youth of Vancouver," said Board vice-chair Jane Bouey. "Districts right across the province, even those with growing enrollment, are facing similar cuts."

     Trustee Allen Blakey commented: "This is crazy. We have money for a stadium roof and to helicopter snow on to Cypress Mountain, but we can't fund public schools in Vancouver properly." Blakey was referring to plans to spend $600 million of taxpayers money for a retractable roof on B.C. Place, as demanded by developers of a new casino project adjacent to the stadium.

     "In tonight's proposed budget, we're forced to cut direct services to children like special education and inner city school programs, when we should be improving our system," asserted Allan Wong. "An early Mandarin program that has long been supported by our community is nowhere to be seen in this budget. That's unacceptable."

     "If we're going to make cuts, then a much bigger proportion needs to come from senior management positions. The cuts need to be kept as far away as possible from kids," added Blakey.

     Bouey pointed out, "Our budget needs to provide adequate support for all of our students, especially Aboriginal children, ESL students, and those with special needs. The budget we were presented tonight doesn't do that and we won't vote for it. Provincial resources need to be increased substantially or the school board can't do the job it was elected to do."

     The preliminary budget was also condemned by the teachers' unions.

     "Vancouver classrooms and supports to students have already been decimated over the past eight years because of successive Ministers of Education failure to provide funding that meets the real needs of our students," said Chris Harris, president of the Vancouver Elementary School Teachers' Association. "During the eight-year period ending in 2009/2010, the district reduced its operating budget by a new total of $51 million - and now there is an additional $18.12 million shortfall."

     Teachers and school trustees, including VSB Chair Patti Bacchus, have been stunned by flippant comments from Minister of Education Margaret MacDiarmid. For example, Macdiarmid says the Vancouver district has enjoyed annual budget surpluses, apparently based on the fact that the VSB has money in its bank account at the end of each fiscal year. The minister's bizarre argument ignores the reality that for many years, the VSB has been compelled to meet its legal obligations by repeatedly cutting staff and programs.

     MacDiarmid claims that declining enrollment is the only factor affecting funding. This ignores the fact that even Surrey, which is now the largest district in B.C., faces a $12 million deficit next year, despite higher enrollment. The real factors behind underfunding include the Liberal government's tactics of downloading extra costs to Boards, clawing back grants, and changing the "per pupil funding" formula from one year to the next.      "The Minister of Education is either completely ignorant of the real costs of running a school district and what supports students need, or she is deliberately misrepresenting the situation," says Harris. "Either way, she has demonstrated that she should either resign or be removed from her position."

     A similar position has been expressed by Bacchus, whose Vision party holds four of the nine VSB trustee positions.

     Several public consultations will be held on the budget, including April 15 and 21 at the VSB offices (1580 West Broadway), and April 20 at Mount Pleasant Elementary. The final budget, including amendments by trustees, will be put to a vote on April 29.