Work of the Board / Notes From the Chair

The Board of Education, SD # 79 passed 3rd Reading of our budget bylaw last night, May 16^th 2012 at the regular open board meeting held at Mt. Prevost School. It was gratifying to share our meeting with almost a hundred people from our community and the board decision was met with applause.

This budget is designed to fulfill the aims in the District Strategic Plan with public input including the long time concerns of our employees and Aboriginal community.

The results are a budget which requires additional revenue from our provincial government to cover the restoration piece totaling just over $3.7 million or $462 per student in Cowichan.

 The executive of the Board -Chair Eden Haythornthwaite, Vice Chair Hannah Seymour and Finance Chair Ellen Oxman met with Deputy Minister James Gorman and Assistant Deputy Minister Keith Miller on Friday May 11^th 2012. We enjoyed a respectful and lively exchange regarding their concerns about our budget approach. Mr. Gorman dutifully explained his dilemma which included his view that in order to accommodate our needs as outlined in our restoration proposal he would have to provide all districts with similar additional revenue – which would require a total of almost $250,000,000 for public education in BC. While the mandate of trustees in our district is to create excellent learning and working conditions for Cowichan, we observed that what we wish for ourselves, we wish for all.

Now that we have concluded our budget process and confirmed our resolve to pursue further dollars for our schools, we have carried a motion to seek a second meeting with the Ministry.

Though we cannot predict how this will end – we have taken every measure to protect district function in the event we are unable to secure the funds we need to fulfill our plans to rebuild.

If you wish more information or would like to comment, please contact the Board Chair Eden Haythornthwaite 250-709-7975 or Finance Chair Ellen Oxman 250-748-0321, ext. 201.

Back in harness for this meeting after a long month of health issues which kept me away from my duties.

Whatever else I may have learned from that experience, the sheer fragility of our footprint in this life has been driven home. A very fine membrane divides ‘being here’ from ‘not being here’. Whatever life may toss our way – being here is better.

Our April 4^th meeting was dominated and rightly so by two splendid delegations which serendipitously dovetailed. We heard from our dedicated technology curriculum coordinator (a position we cut from 1.0 FTE to .2 FTE in the last budget – go figure…) about the urgent need to equip our classrooms and our kids with the tech tools they need. Then our Teacher Librarians explained their role in our students learning as well as the critical services the District Resource Centre provides in processing books and other learning resources centrally for all our schools. Our librarians not only support and encourage our children to learn to love reading but they use technology to assist teachers and students with reports, programs and information technology. Currently, there is only 1 full time teacher librarian in our district, the others are part time and their hours have been cut severely throughout the district. Since 2001, we have lost over 50% of our teacher librarian time in this district.

While it is very interesting to hear about the wonders of a world of technological advancements and the power those tools have to enliven learning, it drives home the sorry message – if we don’t changes these shadows,our kids will only have these things either by pressuring families to supply them out of dwindling household budgets or by cutting into other areas of our education system – like the libraries.

The vibrancy of these presentations emphasised our employees are holding the schools on their shoulders because whatever the funding practices of the province they cannot stop people from caring about the students and their need for learning – we may be running on fumes but our great strength is the boundless enthusiasm our teachers and supporting employees bring to the kids every day.

Our superintendent reported out on the meeting with the Minister of Education he attended over in Richmond last week along with superintendents from all across BC. The purpose of the meeting was to promote and give direction regarding Bill 22 or as it is ironically dubbed “The Education Improvement Act”.

This legislation exemplifies the quote from Shakespeare “Lawless are they that make their will their law.”

Primarily the superintendent returned with the command from the Minister that all teachers will not only commence providing report cards as per their usual practice but will now be required to issue reports retroactively – to September no less despite the fact the LRB had agreed to this condition which excluded doing this work during the job action. It seems an inflammatory demand calculated to drive a wedge between trustees and teachers by forcing boards to enforce the Minister’s wish at the local level. In response, a motion passed which will see a letter from our board to the Minister expressing our concerns about the fairness of this dictate,the immense workload as well as the damage to our relationships and to morale in the district.

Meanwhile we were also told in the same report the money saved during the three day shutdown ( provincially about $ 30,000,000) has been added to the funding the government is offering to help remedy particular challenges for our classrooms around special needs and Cowichan’s portion of this is $ 900,000. We were ready to celebrate just a bit but that was before we were told access to this money would be based on an application process which includes a vigorous consultation and vetting process one hotspot at a time rather than being offered the funds for the obvious needs which currently exist.

Given a shortfall of over $2 million dollars, our district could put the $900,000 to use supporting special needs students in our district right away. Too bad our boards are entrusted with bearing the burden of fronting for the funding protocols of the government but are not entrusted with directing this money to our student needs without a song and dance.

As always our meetings are a heady mix of sublime and ridiculous. Life prepares all of us for this contradiction and for most of us also teaches us to be buoyed up even as we despair.

But right now – we have no time for despair. We have to focus on our kids and the people who work so hard to keep things ticking over against all odds. Our employees at all levels have not given up and neither will trustees.

Remember – I am always available for a tea and a chat.

Eden

Board Chair

250-709-7975

At the February 1^st Open Board  Meeting, our board was asked as boards always are at this time of year, to approve a schedule of fees and deposits for school supplies, activities and textbooks. As usual, we were told failure to approve these costs would result in harm to our classrooms as teachers and parents would be burdened to meet the needs for all these things. This is of course true in the current context of our funding blueprint.

On September 29th 2006, our BC Supreme Court ruled there must be no charge for anything our students require for learning in the K-12 public system. This ruling was founded on the wording and more significantly, the spirit of Section 82 of the BC School Act which governs the issue of fees and deposits. Everything from items consumed in class like supplies as well as musical instruments and tools/materials for trades training were to be provided free of charge.

Judge Johnson stated in his decision that : “ A school board is not permitted to charge student fees for courses or for materials or for musical instruments, that are required for students to successfully complete a course leading to graduation.”

As Mr. John Young – the trustee who brought this matter before the court declared: “Every student, of every economic status, has the right to a quality public education- free of charge.”

The School Act was far from silent in the court’s opinion – anything and everything required for any child’s education program (including electives) from K to 12 was intended to be free. No course fees, no instrument rentals, no charges for calculators, text books, equipment, necessary materials.

In the wake of this decision,the Ministry was flooded with requests from boards including ours to alleviate the financial consequences created by the ruling of the Supreme Court. Many asked for relief in the form of more funding to permit us to meet the new decree. Instead, the law was carefully redrawn to allow charges specifically for musical instruments and the tools and materials needed in trades training. Rather than meet the rigours of the court decision, the government modified the School Act so boards could continue to charge fees – and not just for music instrument rentals either.

 The debate was limited of course – either you were in favour of having the School Act defaced and school fees enshrined or you were prepared to deny children the joys of music, field trips, trades training, sports. The uncomfortable fact that some children already do without these elements hardly registers – after all they only have to appeal for hardship consideration. (are there no workhouses?) The principle of providing every child with the full experiences and enhanced opportunities full funding would permit as a right falls on deaf ears.

The real issue here is not whether some can manage these costs and some cannot –no one can deny these costs exist and must be paid – the question to be answered is who should bear this expense. It is a legal matter but for many people it is, above all, a matter of equality and principle.

In a province as wealthy and prosperous as BC, this debate is beneath our dignity. It is entirely possible and should in fact be a great privilege for our governments to care for our public education needs employing the highest interpretations of law, of civility, of fairness. It is a sad day when any child must rely on charity in order to enjoy a full learning experience. Those parents who must fork over fees or toil to raise funds for a myriad of truly core necessities for the classrooms are surely being misused.

Our board approved the fees for now  but have sent them on to the budget process for costing so we can find the money to pay for all the costs of educating our children without charging parents(what is the difference between PAC fund raising from families or just families shelling out directly?)  or expecting our teachers to pay for supplies and other needs out of their pockets. If our budget process works the way it should, community expectations for a truly free public education will be met within it.

As the Charter for Public Education wisely states:

 “We expect equitable access for communities to programs, resources, experiences and opportunities for learners, regardless of geographical location or socio-economic status.”

Eden Haythornthwaite

Board Chair

Contact me anytime at 250-709-7975

 January 2012

I have always heard it said- it is easier to seek forgiveness than to ask for permission. In my view that approach is cynical particularly as it relates to community involvement in the decisions which affect everyone’s lives.

Back in June 2010, (see Open Board Meeting minutes for June 2^nd 2010) our board at that time passed a motion which stated:

‘The Board Of Education SD#79 recommends the provincial government establish provincial education funding priorities through broad based school and community discussions regarding needs and expectations before allocation and sends a letter to this effect to the provincial government, BCSTA, all partner and professional groups and media.’

We tried to offer a better way – a way which could produce a more respectful, shared process, more collegiality and certainly, a path to the resources our classrooms genuinely need. If you ask first, the answers can save everyone allot of time and tribulation. Sadly, there seems to be little ambition on the part of our government to step into this role.

However, Cowichan can set a good example to the folks in Victoria. We hope our thoughtful approach will warm their hearts. In that exact spirit, our board decided to initiate the budget process with a careful direction to the Budget Committee as follows:

The Board of Education SD # 79 instructs the Chair of the District Finance Committee to call a meeting of the Budget Committee before February 1st with the following direction:

The Budget Committee will initiate a community consultation process to gather information which will lead to the development of the 2012/2013 Budget.

This process will seek:

1.      Current levels of service in the district

2.      Impacts of previous cuts to services and programs 

3.      Additional resources which will supply quality learning and working conditions in our district

This will include but not be restricted to the following groups:

• Student Support Services/Non enrolling teachers
• Classroom teachers
• Educational Support Workers
• Parents
• Students
• Transportation
• Custodial
• Maintenance
• Clerical Staff
• Principals/Vice Principals
• Managers
• Hwulmuhw Mustimuhw Education Council
• Community Members

Further, the Board instructs the Budget Committee to conduct all consultations in public.

Our budget process has in the past commenced with a daunting creation by our senior staff which then leads to months of anguish and fruitless deliberation ending with the inevitable cuts and loss of programs and services. With that unfortunate spectre in mind, we gave instructions to ask first so there is an opportunity for modeling the result on what we hear from our employees and our families.

We can find out what the cuts have meant to our schools and our kids. We can create a budget which allows us to have a different type of year .We are not obligated to accept some version of predestined harm complete with reckless accumulations of costly damage to our facilities and most significantly our ability to provide good learning prospects for our kids. The frantic excess of an imposed budget can end.

There are consequences for every choice we make but the choice which emphasises our better natures and our will to speak frankly to  power is worth considering. One thing is certain – asking permission from our neighbours, our employees and our families makes more sense to me than confirming a route which steps on fundamental democratic principles. The way we as a board have chosen to travel is paved with hope, responsibility and collective scope.

I have no idea where this will take us. However, we will find out together rather than pretending to listen while waving the result in everyone’s face before the fact.

Please watch this space.

Eden Haythornthwaite

Board Chair

Contact me anytime at 250-709-7975