Liberal budget fails students

BC students have been ignored in the Liberal government's budget-a document that fails to improve students' learning conditions-but focusses resources on additional bureaucratic government assessment and data collection.

"There is nothing here for our students," says Jinny Sims, president of the BC Teachers' Federation. "Public education does not benefit from BC's robust economy. Overall, education funding in relation to the province's GDP continues to decline, and the government continues to pay less per pupil than it did in 1990." The government would need to increase funding to school boards this year by more than $200 million to restore funding to 1990 per student levels.

Sims says, "This budget provides virtually nothing to improve education services for our kids, and certainly, there is nothing to ensure students receive the learning resources that are so lacking in our schools."

Sims says, "The premier's priority is literacy, but there is a disconnect in this budget as it does nothing to address the real needs of students in our classrooms. Instead, the government implements one-off literacy programs that are nothing more than photo ops.

The budget fails our most vulnerable students and the government concedes that its education system does not perform well in serving some groups. Sims says, "This budget provides nothing to help the critical needs of students who require additional assistance to succeed. Our students with special needs are ignored. Over the past four years, we have lost many of our specialist teachers, such as librarians, counsellors, and learning assistance and special education teachers."

Instead of providing our kids with the learning conditions they need, this government is focussing on the further bureaucratization of our schools and collecting data. Neither leads to improved learning.