Dear Editor:
The government claims that the education budget has increased substantially over the last decade and claims there is no funding shortfall taking place. Teachers claim they've experienced significant cuts in the classroom over the last 10 years. The public doesn't know who to believe, and wonders how both can be right.
Assuming annual inflation for the cost of goods and services and salaries of two per cent per year, compounded for 10 years, the education budget would have needed to grow by 28 per cent. Unfortunately, that is not all that's happened. Consider the following extra incurred by the system:
1. Payroll taxes like MSP have increased at a greater rate than funding.
2. Full-day kindergarten was introduced with insufficient added funding.
3. Schools are no longer able to charge for summer school programs or online courses.
4. There has been a significant increase in registration for online courses, but success rates are significantly lower than traditional courses indicating resources are used less efficiently.
5. High-school equivalency courses at colleges and universities are now free.
6. Energy costs have risen more than inflation because of the carbon tax and the carbon offsets that districts were required to purchase.
7. There is an expectation that students have access to technology that didn't exist as ubiquitously as it does now and this comes with a significant capital and maintenance cost.
8. School districts now pay software licensing fees they never had to incur, or incurred to a lesser extent, like the mandated Electronic Student Information System.
9. More and more schools are running breakfast and lunch programs for students that come to school hungry. This happens even in affluent neighbourhoods.
10. Curriculum changes in the last 10 years have required new textbooks at every grade level in many subject areas and substantial amounts of "discretionary" budgets have funded these.
The education budget must cover all of the above and there is a point where the system can no longer do more with less.
I encourage you to go out to a picket line and ask teachers in your neighbourhood how things have changed in the last 10 years, and what their fears are for the future.
Terry Mitruk
math teacher
North Vancouver
