The yet-to-be-named new minister of education has a big job ahead to fix the damage inflicted by too many years of B.C. Liberal government. I wrote lots of letters to education ministers over my six-years as the Vancouver School Board’s (VSB) longest-serving chair, so I decided to write to the new one with some advice.
Dear new Minister of Education:
Congratulations! You’ve taken on one of the toughest and most important jobs in government and inherited a big mess to clean up after 16 years under a government that seemed intent on undermining public confidence in our public education system.
The great news is that despite a nasty, expensive and lengthy government-inflicted court battle, chronic underfunding, the large stock of poorly maintained and often seismically unsafe buildings and many shattered relationships, the system is still one of the world’s best and it’s staffed by dedicated and professional educators. It’s been battered and starved but it has strong bones waiting to be nurtured back to excellent health.
You’ve been left with tons of room for improvement and a long to-do list to get there. It may seem overwhelming and you’ll need to prioritize. Here is my advice for tackling the list, and what to do first.
Once you have your deputy and top staff in place, who I hope will be progressive professionals with experience in the education sector, the first urgent task is ensuring school districts have enough money to comply with the restored class size and composition contract language as agreed upon via the memorandum of understanding signed with the B.C. Teacher’s Federation (BCTF).
The outgoing government made a mess of that despite its promises to fully fund the deal.
Several school districts ended the school year without enough money to organize schools and timetables to comply with the restored contract language. Others are struggling to find space and some are having to evict child care programs.
Teachers are raising the alarm that some districts won’t be ready for a smooth school-year start up in September and that classes will have to be reorganized after schools gets underway — a frustratingly disruptive process.
The sooner your ministry can work collaboratively with school boards to ensure adequate funding is there so they can get on with hiring the teachers they need, the better for everyone.
Next is a relatively quick and easy fix to restore adult education funding for all students, regardless of whether they’ve graduated or not. That will ensure students over 16 who need to upgrade or complete additional courses to get into post-secondary programs will be able to do it without paying steep course fees. The sooner that happens the sooner more courses can be scheduled.
Next up is restoration of democratic representation at the VSB. With reports yet another VSB senior manager quit last week and morale apparently at an all-time low, it’s time to restore elected governance, either by reinstating the fired trustees or calling a by-election. Both ways have pros and cons.
Reinstatement is quick and free, but once again we’d have a politically split board and some trustees might not want to come back. With news former Vancouver city councilor Geoff Meggs is off to the premier’s office, Vancouver will be holding a by-election to fill his seat.
That means a VSB by-election becomes less of an expensive option as the two elections could be held at the same time and the costs could be shared between the city and school board. It will take a little longer to get a board in place than reinstatement would, but it would give voters a chance to decide who they want representing them from now until the October 2018 elections and there’s a good chance the new board wouldn’t be politically split as it was since 2014.
Either way, it’s time to get the B.C. Liberal government’s appointed trustee out and an accountable board in.
On the capital projects side, the school seismic mitigation program is way behind schedule due to B.C. Liberal foot dragging and its pressure for boards to close schools in exchange for getting seismic upgrading for others. It’s time to get serious and methodical about getting kids out of high-risk buildings and into safe ones.
That will require your ministry to work respectfully and collaboratively with school boards — something we’re not accustomed to but is overdue, and will make a huge and refreshing difference.
While you’re looking at the capital file, the Liberals starved districts of funds for new schools where they’re needed, making boards wait years for schools they needed long ago.
Capital planning will need to be a big priority for you and you’ll have to make a strong case to the treasury board about why this must be a priority for them too. Remind them interests rates are still relatively low and investing in education infrastructure will keep the construction sector humming. The new and upgraded schools will be used and appreciated for generations to come.
That wacky Christy Clark had some crazy stuff in her last-grasp throne speech, including a call for a royal commission on education. It’s not a terrible idea but it’s a long-term project and there’s a lot more to be done in the short term.
The funding formula for school boards needs to be reviewed, but what’s really needed is more money to bring B.C. in line with what other provinces spend per student. Make sure the money’s there as soon as you can and then start thinking about a review or a commission about how to divvy it up. Figure out the problem that needs solving before launching what could be a lengthy and expensive process that tells us more of what we already know.
A big shift that will have huge benefits for students is cultural. As a school board chair for six years and a trustee for eight, I was repeatedly disappointed in how little respect government, and your new ministry, showed for the co-governance relationship with school boards.
Whether it was sudden funding cuts, new administrative requirements or unilateral changes to funding criteria for capital projects, it made the work of those of us trying to govern school districts more difficult and eroded trust to dismal levels. We can all do our best when we work side by side, in a respectful, collaborative manner.
The B.C. Liberals squandered millions of dollars on petty political battles. Whether it was the epic court fight with the BCTF over stripping its contract or the three “special advisor” and “forensic” audits of the VSB — just don’t do that stuff. It’s vindictive and expensive and doesn’t improve anything at the school level for students, but does a heck of a lot of harm along the way.
You’ll also need to start laying the groundwork for implementing the $10-a-day childcare program. Call on the experts out there and make sure it’s done right.
Put some good people to work to address how we can continue to support the success of indigenous students and build key relationships with Aboriginal communities to help guide that. There’s been some good progress but the gap between aboriginal and non-aboriginal outcomes is still shamefully large. All partners in the system need to take responsibility for Reconciliation and for closing that gap.
It’s also time to bring education partners together to figure out the best way to ensure students with special needs are getting the opportunities and support they need to succeed in inclusive public schools. Current supplementary special education is grossly inadequate to meet the needs of our complex school populations. We need to figure out how much it truly costs to fully meet each student’s needs and the best way to deliver the right supports and services.
After the B.C. Liberals refusal to develop and implement a poverty-reduction strategy for so many years — unlike all other B.C. provinces — poverty continues to affect a large portion of B.C. students. While a comprehensive poverty-reduction plan is crucial, more funding is needed immediately to ensure all students who need it have access to healthy food at school. I encourage you to reach out to school boards to identify what their needs are and respond quickly while a longer-term, comprehensive plan is developed.
A few relatively easy ones to pick off once the urgent stuff is addressed is some enabling legislation to add student trustees to school boards. The VSB piloted this successfully in the absence of legislation but it would be nice to see all school boards follow suit and legislation would help.
Parents have struggled for years to pay for school playgrounds creating stress for them and inequities among schools. With kids having fewer outdoor spaces to play and more living in apartments and condominiums, it’s time government made a commitment to fund playgrounds as part of all primary and elementary schools. The new government will need to consult with school boards to figure out the best and fairest way to do that.
You’ll also need to take a hard look at what’s been going on over at the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA). Former Education Minister Peter Fassbender unilaterally dismissed its elected board members (they were school trustees elected by school boards) a few years ago. Since then it’s been operating under a BC Liberal government-appointed administrator with little accountability. It’s needs an independent review and audit, and restored elected oversight.
Farther afield, the B.C. offshore schools program appears to be in need of an overhaul and clean up. I wrote about that last week and shared the advice of some former offshore teachers about how to do it. While you're at it, take a look at the international student program. The B.C. Liberals pushed hard to increase it but while there are many benefits to bringing in thousands of fee-paying international students, there are problems with that as well.
I'm also concerned cash strapped-school boards are relying heavily on that income — income that isn't necessarily reliable and could change at any time because of factors way beyond the province's control.
That's it for now but I'm sure there will be much much more on your very full plate.
Good luck in coming days and once again, congratulations on your new role.
All the best,
Patti