Cowichan Valley Board of Education

Presentation to the

Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services

Budget 2011 Budget Consultation Process

September 24, 2010

The Cowichan Valley School District has a student population of 8,250 students in a region of approximately 52,000 people. Within our District is the Cowichan Tribes, the largest and fastest growing urban aboriginal group in British Columbia, if not in all of Canada. In addition, the Halalt First Nation, the Penelakut First Nation, the Chemainus First Nation, Lyackson First Nation, the Malahat First Nation, Lake Cowichan First Nation and members of the Metis Nation are within our boundaries. We have approximately fifteen hundred aboriginal children in our schools.

Our financial situation is bleak. The Cowichan Valley School District is one of many districts in BC whose funding has been frozen at the 2008/2009 levels for a second year – in our case at approximately $72.5 million for operating costs. Our School District, like most districts in the province, is suffering from chronic under-funding as we struggle with inadequate funding for inflationary costs and downloaded costs from the provincial government.

The Board had to make compromises in our classrooms and with our facilities to balance our 2010/2011 budget. This year we have reduced services and choice for our students. Often the students most affected by this underfunding are our most vulnerable students. This year we have made significant cuts to our transportation budget making access to programs of choice more difficult. We have an aging infrastructure that is becoming increasingly more expensive to maintain.

As we all know, education is the foundation of a healthy, vibrant society. We must educate our children to be literate, socially conscious and productive citizens, prepared for the 21st century. We can only ensure these goals are achieved through adequate resources for public education.

Make no mistake, we are proud of our education system, of the achievements of our students. With other BC students our students rank among the highest in the world in student achievement. However, we are making drastic cuts around our classrooms to continue this excellence.

Our Board has worked hard to minimize the impact of these funding pressures on students. Administrative costs have been reduced and we continue to explore shared service opportunities. We worry, however, that ongoing reductions in support services, school-and district-based leadership, and infrastructure will have long-term negative impacts on student achievement and the health of the public education system overall.

The operational funding the School District receives from the Ministry of Education does not keep up with inflation or the costs associated with initiatives and agreements. Inadequate capital funding means that we cannot replace a school in the rural community of Lake Cowichan – a school that we were forced to close due to mould. Even though our School District, in partnership with the Town of Lake Cowichan, identified that the replacement of this school is our top priority, we have not received any funding.

Besides mitigating the impacts of funding shortages on the system as it currently exists, we want to look to the future and the kind of education system required to prepare today's and tomorrow's students for success throughout the 21st century. Emerging trends on how education is delivered and changing expectations of students and parents for increased choice and the integration of technology, challenge all levels of our system. While it is true that the solutions to these challenges are not totally dependent on funding, implementing new models of education will undoubtedly cost more. For example, increased use of technology brings some efficiencies in the delivery of education, but also brings a high overhead of building and maintaining the necessary infrastructure.

The Cowichan Valley School District urges the Province to provide adequate, predictable funding for education in British Columbia. Specifically, we recommend that the Province: