EDITOR,
On behalf of students, B.C.'s teachers are once again exercising their democratic rights to ensure that public education is a key issue during the campaign and that voters are fully informed of the current government's dismal record when they cast their ballots on May 14.
Despite Christy Clark and her Liberal candidates' mantra of "highest funding ever" (which is simply a result of inflation and not real increases in funding), B.C. is in last place by almost every indicator used to measure our system.
Per-student funding is almost $1,000 below the national average, total expenditures per student rank last among the provinces, and the student-educator ratio is the worst in Canada, with three more students per educator than the national average. If B.C. brought its student-educator ratio up to the national average, we would have 6,600 more teachers to work with students in our classrooms.
B.C. Liberal policies since 2001 have been particularly harmful to our most vulnerable learners, with damagingcuts tolearning specialist services. As Minister of Education, Christy Clark brought in legislation in 2002that gutted students' learning conditions with the removal of protections for class size and composition, and learning specialist services. She promised that "flexibility" would lead to improvements for students, but by all accounts, this relentless, unprecedented,and ultimatelyunconstitutional attack on teachers' rights has been an abject failure in protecting vital programs and services for students. For example, learning specialist positions have declined from 7,187 teachers in 2001-'02 to 5,658 in 2011-'12, adrop of 21 per cent, andmore than double the rate of enrolment decline in the same period. Students in Sea to Sky District have faced a 34 per cent decline in specialist services over the same period, which includes a staggering 45 per cent drop in teacher-librarian time in our local schools.
After a long decade of cuts to programs for students and attacks on teachers' right to freely negotiate their working conditions, B.C.'s teachers are asking voters to consider those parties and candidates who support:
Improved equity for students through a comprehensive poverty reduction plan;
Proper classroom supports through class size and composition protection so that all students can meet their full potential;
Respectful consultation and engagement with teachers on all matters of education change, including curriculum, assessment and policy;
Recognition of teachers' collective bargaining rights as guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Teachers are committed to the promotion of a strong, stable and equitable public education system and we urge you to remember our students when you vote on May 14!
Carl Walker
President, Sea to Sky Teachers' Association
Squamish
