04) PUBLIC EDUCATION PROJECT CANDIDATES IN VANCOUVER

 

One of Vancouver's most outspoken defenders of public education will be on the ballot for school trustee on November 15. Jane Bouey has served two previous terms as a Vancouver School Board trustee, in 2002-05 and again in 2008-11, when she was the vice-chair of the VSB. Starting with her first campaign for trustee in 1996, Bouey was consistently among the top vote-getters for the Coalition of Progressive Electors.

 

            This fall, Bouey and Gwen Giesbrecht, the former chair of the Vancouver District Parent Advisory Committee, will be candidates for the Public Education Project. This group was created to address the tendency for Vancouver civic elections to focus exclusively on City Council issues, virtually ignoring public education.

 

            September began with teachers across British Columbia on strike against a government which stubbornly refuses to engage in serious collective bargaining. In Vancouver alone, the dispute affects 3500 teachers and many other school staff, and over 50,000 students and their families. Liberal Premier Christy Clark hopes to use the dispute to inflict further damage on the public education system, by encouraging families to move to private schools.

 

            Speaking to People's Voice, Bouey explained why she has decided to run again for VSB trustee during this unprecedented attack against public education.

 

            I believe in the enormous democratic potential of a well-funded public education system. Having served two terms on the Vancouver School Board, I feel there is a lot that I was unable to accomplish, and much I still want to do.

 

            The Liberals have systematically and intentionally undermined public education. When I was first elected in 2002, Christy Clark had rammed through legislation that illegally ripped up contracts with teachers, and instituted a policy of "Choice". Teachers, students, education workers, parents, and some school boards effectively pushed back much of the Fraser Institute inspired agenda.

 

            However, public confidence in the school system, teachers' morale, and the quality of education itself have suffered. The greatest victims have been students with challenges such as learning disabilities, English as an additional language, those living in poverty, and those who face racism, homophobia, and transphobia.

 

 

What are the key issues facing the Vancouver School District?

 

            Among the critical issues facing the school district in Vancouver, underfunding is number one. The VSB has calculated that "since 2002‑03, $47 million in education services have been cut in the Vancouver school district because provincial government funding increases have not kept pace with rising costs." This figure is a conservative one, but includes $31.5 million in lost staffing (including 524 entry level teachers) and $15.5 million in cuts to educational supplies and services.

 

            These cuts disproportionately impacted students with special needs. The BC Teachers Federation has calculated that the number of specialist teachers in special education dropped by 769 FTE from 2001 to 2012. Class size and composition must be fairly negotiated.

 

            The massive cuts to maintenance budgets, and layoffs of CUPE, IUOE, and trades people, mean that despite the hard work by those still employed in the district, our schools are not as clean and well‑kept as they need to be. This negatively impacts the health and safety of employees and our students.

 

            The seismic upgrading of schools still lags behind the promises made by the provincial government. This puts all students at risk. The threat of school closure is ongoing. Layoffs mean increased workloads, and lower employee morale. Most important, students don't receive the quality of education they deserve.

 

            Underfunding also means that school districts, administrators, and even individual teachers and parents desperately try to find revenue to make up what has been lost. COPE and Vision school boards have tried to reign in various fees that parents pay.

 

            But fundraising, and donations by teachers, greatly subsidize our system. Districts compete to attract International Students and online students, and to set up academies and mini‑schools to compete with publicly-funded private schools.

 

            Districts are under growing pressure to look to corporate funding, P3s, contracting out, and selling of land. So far, in Vancouver, this neo‑liberal agenda has been largely pushed back. The COPE school board of 2002‑05 that I served on even "contracted‑IN" cafeterias. But the pressure to move in this direction is enormous. It is essential to elect a Vancouver School Board that will not buckle.

 

            Declining enrollment is also a serious issue in Vancouver, a district that has many private alternatives. Underfunding and the rising cost of living ‑ in particular housing ‑ are also major factors. Many folk are forced to move to the suburbs in the search for affordable places to live. This also raises the issue of a living wage, which I support.

 

            There are other important issues, such as standardized testing, the new BC Ed Plan, the even newer B.C. Skills for Jobs Blueprint. Public education must be defended from moves that would lessen the role of critical thinking.

 

How do you relate public education and equity issues?

 

            I am proud that the COPE and Vision/COPE boards to which I was elected took a leading role in advocating for public education, attempting to keep cuts away from classrooms, to win more support for inner city students, and to defend fair collective bargaining, improve aboriginal education, and work for safer, more welcoming schools for all students.

 

            In 2002‑2003 public hearings were held across the province, to develop the Charter for Public Education. I participated in this process, and our COPE board of 2002‑05 formally endorsed the Charter. I fully endorse the principles contained in that document, which calls public education a "sacred trust." The Charter stresses that "as a community we promise to prepare learners for a socially responsible life in a free and democratic society, to participate in a world which each generation will shape and build. We promise a public education system which provides learners with knowledge and wisdom, protects and nurtures their natural joy of learning, encourages them to become persons of character, strength and integrity, infuses them with hope and with spirit, and guides them to resolute and thoughtful action."

 

            It recognizes that "Everyone has the right to a free, quality public education," and that "Each first nation has the right to be recognized and respected by those within the educational institutions located in their traditional territory."

 

            The Charter emphasizes that government must be responsible to fully fund all aspects of a quality education, and that strong local democratic governance is necessary within the provincial education system. It demands equitable access for communities to programs, resources, experiences and opportunities for learners, regardless of geographic location or socio‑economic status.

 

            I came to education politics through a history of involvement in the struggle for equity. I was on the national executive of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, and had been active in the areas of anti‑poverty, LGBTQ Rights, needs of students with developmental disabilities and anti‑racism coalition work. The VSB's work in combatting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity/expression has been outstanding and comprehensive. I played a key role in the formation and adoption of an LGBTQ policy and action plan back in 2004. I continued to be involved, sitting on the national education committee of Egale, and on the VSB Pride advisory committee between terms. In 2008‑11, again a trustee, I worked with other members of the Pride Advisory to develop the first drafts of the revised policy that was just adopted by the Board this spring. I worked to build a coalition of support for that revised policy.

 

            There is a strong correlation between equity concerns and underfunding. Equity policies require funds for in‑service training and professional development, for resources, for counsellors and teachers who have time to meet the individual needs of students.

 

            Programs such as Junior Kindergarten ‑ which was cut in Vancouver ‑ make a huge difference in the struggle for equity. Initiatives such as the Inner City and Community Link funded programs (hot lunches, additional targeted staffing) face constant downward funding pressures.

 

            Vancouver did have an excellent Adult Education program for those who struggled to complete their schooling. That program is now a shell of what it was prior to provincial policy changes and resulting cuts.

 

            In our diverse city, the majority live in a household for whom English is an additional language, yet the District struggles to maintain adequate ESL learning in schools. This too is a funding and provincial policy issue.

 

            Teachers and support workers do amazing work to build inclusive schools, with diminishing resources. But there are still huge barriers for students with special needs, those who live in poverty, for whom English is a second language, who are Aboriginal, who deal with racism, who experience homophobia and transphobia.

 

            The Vancouver School Board must focus resources disproportionately in these areas, in order to achieve equitable outcomes. Teachers have to be supported, in efforts to modify their curriculum to meet individual students' needs.

 

How should school trustees respond to the provincial austerity agenda?

 

            After more than a decade of devastating cuts, I believe that school districts should seriously consider just saying "no" to more cuts. This was seriously considered by the Boards that I served on. We were told by parents and unions that we needed to stay in office and fight the province, and do the best we could with what we had. But how can School districts make the case that these cuts are untenable, if we keep making them and continue to operate? Doesn't this make us susceptible to the province's accusation that we just "cry wolf"? Knowing the cumulative impact of these cuts, I cannot justify voting for a compliance budget that fails to meet the true learning needs of our students.

 

            The VSB needs to continue to be a strong voice in support of adequate funding. It would be great to hear more trustee voices, in Vancouver and around the province, demanding increased funding. The VSB should join with parents, students, unions and the community to build strong coalitions in support of public education.

 

            If elected, there principles will guide my work as a Trustee, in close cooperation with students, teachers, staff, parents and all supporters of public education across British Columbia.

 

(The above article is from the September 16-30, 2014, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)