From a column by Paul Willcocks... on education cuts

A remarkably bad string of school cuts, Times Colonist (Victoria), Fri Sep 11 2009. Paul Willcocks

....In the last two weeks, the government has announced four cuts to education funding. None seems sensible.

Leave aside the discussion about core school funding and the problems created by per-pupil grants. These are cuts outside of that envelope.

The biggest is the elimination of $110 million in funding that districts had expected for maintaining schools this year. The annual grants provide for upkeep and capital improvements -- wheelchair ramps, classroom renovations and all the standard maintenance needed to keep buildings functional and safe.

Five months into the fiscal year, Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid cancelled the grant program without notice or consultation. Some districts had set aside money each year to build reserves for major projects; they could raid that money to cover needed work, she said.

So prudence is punished. Districts which did maintenance work over the summer, counting on the grants, have to cut spending to balance the budget as required by law. And economic stimulus is abandoned.

Next, MacDiarmid was sent out to defend a decision to eliminate the government's entire $130,000 contribution to B.C. School Sports, almost 30 per cent of its budget. The organization helps support and manage all the regional and provincial sports events for schools in the province.
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Then came the most perverse cut.

At a staged event to highlight $500,000 being sent to schools for Olympic programming -- about four times the amount saved by cutting the sports funding -- MacDiarmid revealed the grants to parent advisory councils would be cut in half. (Again, without warning or
consultation.)

They had received $20 per student. This year, it would be $10. The government would save $7.6 million, at the expense of parent councils at schools across the province.

....Finally -- at least so far -- the government cut almost $2 million, or about four per cent, from the CommunityLINK program. It provides meals for hungry children and counselling to keep struggling students on track. And it's not a high enough priority to justify consistent funding, in the government's view.

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