BC Teachers likely to take strike vote in June

[KGT]

If I do complain, it has very little to do with my job and everything to with the government cut backs in Education. These cut backs reduce services to children - fewer Learning Assistant Teachers and Certified Educational Assistants for children who need extra one on one support, increasing class size which reduces the time teachers have with children and so on. I love my job and I do not *bleep* about it. I am only angry with the way we are constantly being treated by BCPSEA and this government in negotiations about our collective agreement.

Misinformation would be stating that there have been government cutbacks in education. Funding has been increased every single year for 11 years straight, despite rapidly declining enrolment. I'm not sure who else, besides healthcare, got increases in funding over that same time.

Try your BCTF BS spin elsewhere, as we are all quite familiar with the bitching about "cutbacks" when in FACT there have been NO cutbacks.

Also, tell me why you need more when your client base is decreasing, to the tune of nearly 60,000 students over the past decade.

One of the reasons is because we are trying to keep kids in their neighbourhood schools. We can certainly save the system money by closing smaller schools and moving kids into fewer, large schools in order to keep the costs down and make sure there are no empty classroooms due to declining enrollment. However, most parents (and I am one of them), don't support this solution for obvious reasons.

The problem with smaller schools is that they just don’t have the same resources as larger schools….a larger school can have a better equipped library with more hours of operations, it can have more programs and clubs on account of more teachers at the larger school…there are all kinds of economies of scale that come with consolidating resources into a larger school. I understand that people get nostalgic about smaller schools but the reality is they are very inefficient and costly and you end up with fewer resources and programs as a result.

I'm in agreement with you there and in the case of secondary schools, I think this is probably the best way to go. But it's pretty tough for parents of elementary school children to pass by a closed neighbourhood school and have their kids shipped off to a school a 30-60 minute bus ride away. In some areas of BC, kids now have to spend an hour on the bus to get to and from school.

[coffeeFreak]

Here's an interesting read:

The state of education in Canada and BC

by PAUL on JANUARY 4, 2011 · 4 COMMENTS
To effectively set goals for where we want Canadian learners to be, we must understand exactly where we currently are – what is working, what needs improvement, and how we compare with others. This post will begin a series of stats driven posts intended to reveal what the data is telling us about educational trends in our society at large.

The student population in Canada is declining. From 2002/2003 to 2008/2009, enrolment in public elementary and secondary schools across Canada declined from 5.3 million to 5 million. In BC, enrolment went from 613,000 students to 566,000, a decline of nearly 7%. [Table A.1]

Second language immersion programs are increasingly popular in Canada. Enrolment in such programs increased from 280,000 in 2002/2003 to 317,000 in 2008/2009 country-wide; in BC, enrolment increased from 31,000 to 42,000. That’s around a 13% increase country-wide and a 33% increase in BC. [Table A.5]

More students are in special needs programs. As a percentage of total enrolment, special needs programs represented 10.2% of school programs in 2002/2003, versus 11.5% in 2008/2009, country-wide. In BC, the numbers went from 7.6% to 8.6% in the same time period. [Table A.9]

The graduation rate is declining. Canada’s graduation rate, which includes students who return to complete their secondary diplomas but excludes private school students, declined from 76.4% in 2002/2003 to 74.8% in 2008/2009. In BC, our graduation rate declined from 76.7% to 73.3% in the same time period. [Table A.11]

Less educators are teaching students than in the past. The student to educator ratio, which includes all staff that are certified to teach, such as principals or counsellors, declined across Canada from 15.8 in 2002/2003 to 14 in 2008/2009. BC experienced a similar decline, moving from 17.6 educators per student to 16.4 in the same time period. [Table A.14]

Educators’ wages, on average, have increased in the past decade. Country-wide, average wages of educators increased from $59,000 in 2002/2003 to $71,000 in 2008/2009. In BC, the average renumeration increased from $60,000 to $76,000 in the same time period. On average, renumeration in BC is fifth highest in the country, behind only the territories and Alberta. [Table A.15]

Total expenditures in public K-12 schooling has increased. Across Canada, total expenditures increased from $41 billion in 2002/2003 to $55 billion in 2008/2009. A similar expenditure increase is seen in BC, moving from $5.1 billion to $6.4 billion in the same time period. [Table A.19]

Total expenditures per student has increased. Country-wide, per student expenditures increased from $8,200 in 2002/2003 to $10,100 in 2008/2009. In BC, per student expenditures increased from $8,600 to $10,300 in the same time period. On a per student basis, BC ranks sixth in the country for student funding, behind only the territories, Manitoba, and Alberta. [Table A.20.2]

Increased funding is not going to increased educator wages. Across Canada, educator renumeration accounted for 45.6% of expenditures in 2002/2003, declining to 43.9% of expenditures in 2008/2009. In BC, renumeration as a percentage of expenditures remained remarkably consistent, going from 40.2% in 2002/2003 to 39.9% in 2008/2009. [Table A.24]

Investment in education as a percentage of provincial and local budgets has declined, while both GDP and government budgets increased. Across Canada, education expenditures represented 13.8% of government budgets in 2002/2003, a rate that declined slightly to 13.1% by 2008/2009. In BC, the decline was more evident, moving from 14% to 12.4% in the same time period. [Table A.29] Meanwhile, GDP growth per capita increased nearly 23%, from $37,000 in 2002/2003 to $46,000 in 2008/2009. In BC, GDP growth per capita increased nearly 27%, from $34,000 to $43,000 in the same time period. [Table A.33] Concurrently, Canadian governments spent $299 billion dollars in 2002/2003, increasing to $418 billion in 2008/2009. In BC, provincial budgets increased from $36 billion to $51 billion in the same time period. [Table A.35]

In conclusion, although there are less students going to public schools than in the past, each students is receiving more funding for their education. Students are increasingly either seeking or requiring choice and alternative programs, though such programs seemingly are not resulting in higher graduation rates. Less educators are available to each student, although the decline in educational staff does not seem to be related to wages, which have increased on average. Wage increases however are not consuming education budgets, which have increased, although not on par with productivity gains or with ballooning government expenditures (health care anyone?).

Source: Brockington, Riley. 2010. Summary Public School Indicators for Canada, the Provinces and Territories, 2002/2003 to 2008/2009. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 81-595-M. Ottawa.http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/81-595-m/8 ... 88-eng.pdf (Accessed January 3, 2011).

http://www.paulhillsdon.com/2011/01/04/the-state-of-education-in-canada-and-bc/

[viobach]

Investment in education as a percentage of provincial and local budgets has declined, while both GDP and government budgets increased. Across Canada, education expenditures represented 13.8% of government budgets in 2002/2003, a rate that declined slightly to 13.1% by 2008/2009. In BC, the decline was more evident, moving from 14% to 12.4% in the same time period. [Table A.29] Meanwhile, GDP growth per capita increased nearly 23%, from $37,000 in 2002/2003 to $46,000 in 2008/2009. In BC, GDP growth per capita increased nearly 27%, from $34,000 to $43,000 in the same time period. [Table A.33] Concurrently, Canadian governments spent $299 billion dollars in 2002/2003, increasing to $418 billion in 2008/2009. In BC, provincial budgets increased from $36 billion to $51 billion in the same time period. [Table A.35]

Can anyone explain this to me in english?? LOL

In conclusion, although there are less students going to public schools than in the past, each students is receiving more funding for their education. Students are increasingly either seeking or requiring choice and alternative programs, though such programs seemingly are not resulting in higher graduation rates. Less educators are available to each student, although the decline in educational staff does not seem to be related to wages, which have increased on average. Wage increases however are not consuming education budgets, which have increased, although not on par with productivity gains or with ballooning government expenditures (health care anyone?).

I wonder if most teachers are aware of this? I wonder if the money is all accounted for? In the past I did some research about the money spent in our local health care and there are huge problems related too mis-spent or missing money. I wonder if this is possible with the school board?
I remember awhile back a teacher I knew broke down their pay into an hourly rate and after they deducted every expense eg: union, cpp, health care, etc, they determined that they made a rate of $9 an hour based on a 40 hr work week. It's been awhile and I can't remember the exact content of the conversation, but at the time I felt bad for them until I remembered that hourly wages are done before you subtract all the extra crap the gov takes off. If you only work 10 months out of the year at 8 hours a day (7:30-3:30). That's 40hr week for 37 weeks (xmas & spring break holidays off) which equals up to 1480 hrs a year. If you take the number $40,000 (yearly wage) and divide it by the 1480 hrs, they are making $27 an hour. Right?? (Im terrible at math : ( But there are some exceptions to this b/c they also do school prep at the beginning of the year and while some teachers are working more then the 40hrs and other less.
How much are their union dues? Is this the reason they feel so broke? While I agree teacher are worthy of our investment, I do have an issue with how their unions run and the lack of discipline for poor teachers. However a pay increase is not in the best interest of our children, it's in the best interest of the teachers and union. I do however believe %100 that teachers and teachers alone should have a say in class room sizes. They alone know what's best for their class room and if they have 35 kids in their class, and at least one isn't getting the help they need. That's one to many.

[KGT]

I'm posting this information in both threads related to the teachers' job action. It gives some information about education funding in BC.
http://bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/Public/Issues/edfinance/thenumberstellthestory2010.pdf

[mr.bandaid]

For some perspective on what government in particular our mighty mouse premier and mla's have cost us over a similar time frame.
http://thetyee.ca/Views/2009/04/29/PayRaises/
And now for 2011
http://www.discoveryfinance.com/annual- ... umbia.html