The latest information from locals indicates that school districts will be cutting over 580 FTE positions for 2009-2010.
03 Kimberley – down 1
07 Nelson & 86 Creston – down 5.39
10 Arrow Lakes – down 3.5
17 Princeton – down 1
18 Golden – down 3
19 Revelstoke – down 2
20 Kootenay-Columbia – down 9
22 Vernon – down 17
23 Central Okanagan – down 12
27 Cariboo-Chilcotin – down 15
28 Quesnel – down 8
31 Nicola Valley – down 3
33 Chilliwack – down 12.9
34 Abbotsford – down 5
36 Surrey – up 10
37 Delta – down 20
38 Richmond – down 12
39 Vancouver – down 42
40 New Westminster down 19
41 Burnaby – down 7.5
42 Maple Ridge – down 17.9
43 Coquitlam – down 62.55
44 North Vancouver – down 22
45 West Vancouver – down 10
46 Sunshine Coast – down 5
47 Powell River – down 6
49 Central Coast – down 2
50 Haida Gwaii - down 2
51 Boundary – down 4.4
52 Prince Rupert – down 12
53 South Okanagan Similkameen – down 9
55 Burns Lake – down 3
56 Nechako – down 3
57 Prince George – down 32
591 Peace River South – down 6
593 Tumbler Ridge – down 2
61 Victoria – down 5
62 Sooke – up 2
63 Saanich – down 15
64 Gulf Islands – down 2
67 Okanagan Skaha – down 9
68 Nanaimo – down 21.95
69 Mount Arrowsmith – down 4
70 Alberni – down 20
71 Comox – down 15
72 Campbell River – down 8
73 Kamloops – down 31
74 Gold Trail – down 9.5
75 Mission – down 15.5
78 Fraser Cascade – down 8.0
79 Cowichan – down 17.8
81 Fort Nelson –down 1
83 North Okanagan-Shuswap – down 8.91
84 Vancouver Island West – down 4.4
85 Vancouver Island North – down 1.7
87 Stikine – up 1.0
88 Terrace/80 Kitimat/88.2 Upper Skeena – down 13.9
92 Nisgaa – down 1
93 SEPF – up 6
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
If you like statistics,
A decade of statistics release by the Ministry of Education. Despite the iffy FSA, provincial exam, and “satisfaction” data there are a number of other comparisons that you may find interesting.
Compared to a decade ago there are now:
· 159 fewer public schools
· 8 fewer independent schools
· 2660 fewer teachers (-7.3%)
· 75 more administrators (+2.4%)
And, while the percentage of female teachers has increased only slightly from 68% to 71%, the percentage of female administrators has increased from 41% to 52%.
You’ll find lots more at:
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/keyinfo/pdfs/ski09.pdf
Compared to a decade ago there are now:
· 159 fewer public schools
· 8 fewer independent schools
· 2660 fewer teachers (-7.3%)
· 75 more administrators (+2.4%)
And, while the percentage of female teachers has increased only slightly from 68% to 71%, the percentage of female administrators has increased from 41% to 52%.
You’ll find lots more at:
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/keyinfo/pdfs/ski09.pdf
Monday, June 22, 2009
Education Chief to Warn Advocates That Inferior Charter Schools Harm the Effort, The New York Times Mon Jun 22 2009, Sam Dillon [excerpts]
The Obama administration has made opening more charter schools a big part of its plans for improving the nation's education system, but Education Secretary Arne Duncan will warn advocates of the schools on Monday that low- quality institutions are giving their movement a black eye.
…..
Mr. Duncan's speech will come at a pivotal moment for the charter school movement. The Obama administration has been working to persuade state legislatures to lift caps on the number of charter schools.
At the same time, the movement is smarting from the release last week of a report by Stanford University researchers that found that although some charter schools were doing an excellent job, many students in charter schools were not faring as well as students in traditional public schools.
….
Mr. Duncan's speech calls the Stanford report -- which singles out Arizona, Florida, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Texas as states that have done little to hold poorly run charter schools accountable -- "a wake-up call."
…..
The Stanford study, by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes, used student achievement data from 15 states and the District of Columbia to gauge whether students who attended charter schools had fared better than they would if they had attended a traditional public school.
"The study reveals that a decent fraction of charter schools, 17 percent, provide superior education opportunities for their students," the report says. "Nearly half of the charter schools nationwide have results that are no different from the local public school options, and over a third, 37 percent, deliver learning results that are significantly worse than their students would have realized had they remained in traditional public schools."
…..
Mr. Duncan has been working to build a national effort to restructure 5,000 chronically failing public schools, which turn out middle school students who cannot read and most of the nation's high school dropouts. In his speech, he will urge states, school districts, nonprofit groups, teachers' unions and charter organizations "to get in the business of turning around our lowest-performing schools."
"Over the coming years," the speech says, "America needs to find 5,000 high-energy, hero principals to take over these struggling schools, and a quarter of a million great teachers who are willing to do the toughest work in public education."
Mr. Smith said he believed that some charter school operators would react favorably to Mr. Duncan's call, but only if they were given flexibility over hiring and firing teachers, structuring student learning time and other issues.
"They have to be able to maintain the integrity of the charter model," Mr. Smith said.
…..
Mr. Duncan's speech will come at a pivotal moment for the charter school movement. The Obama administration has been working to persuade state legislatures to lift caps on the number of charter schools.
At the same time, the movement is smarting from the release last week of a report by Stanford University researchers that found that although some charter schools were doing an excellent job, many students in charter schools were not faring as well as students in traditional public schools.
….
Mr. Duncan's speech calls the Stanford report -- which singles out Arizona, Florida, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Texas as states that have done little to hold poorly run charter schools accountable -- "a wake-up call."
…..
The Stanford study, by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes, used student achievement data from 15 states and the District of Columbia to gauge whether students who attended charter schools had fared better than they would if they had attended a traditional public school.
"The study reveals that a decent fraction of charter schools, 17 percent, provide superior education opportunities for their students," the report says. "Nearly half of the charter schools nationwide have results that are no different from the local public school options, and over a third, 37 percent, deliver learning results that are significantly worse than their students would have realized had they remained in traditional public schools."
…..
Mr. Duncan has been working to build a national effort to restructure 5,000 chronically failing public schools, which turn out middle school students who cannot read and most of the nation's high school dropouts. In his speech, he will urge states, school districts, nonprofit groups, teachers' unions and charter organizations "to get in the business of turning around our lowest-performing schools."
"Over the coming years," the speech says, "America needs to find 5,000 high-energy, hero principals to take over these struggling schools, and a quarter of a million great teachers who are willing to do the toughest work in public education."
Mr. Smith said he believed that some charter school operators would react favorably to Mr. Duncan's call, but only if they were given flexibility over hiring and firing teachers, structuring student learning time and other issues.
"They have to be able to maintain the integrity of the charter model," Mr. Smith said.
Painful cuts plague province's school districts, The Globe And Mail Mon Jun 22 2009 Section: B C News. Brennan Clarke [excerpts for space]
VICTORIA -- Students in the Saanich school district will be cleaning out their desks and heading off on vacation this week, but it won't be a carefree summer for the administrators and board members charged with cutting $3.6-million from their budget.
Last month, Saanich trustees approved the 5-per-cent cut to its overall budget, the largest annual reduction in district history.
If nothing changes in the provincial government's updated budget this fall, the district will start the 2009-10 school year with 23.5 fewer full-time teaching positions, only one-third of which can be attributed to declining enrolment.
Deep cuts will also affect clerical workers, education assistants, social workers, career programs, field trips, school supplies and even crossing guards.
…
"But with all the funding challenges the government is facing, our budget is probably not going to change this year. We've made lot of difficult choices. We've pretty much hit the wall." (board chair Mary Lynne Rimer)
That's a widespread sentiment among B.C. school trustees these days. The painful, cost-cutting decisions in Saanich this spring were duplicated to varying degree in dozens of school districts across the province.
Surrey, the province's largest school district, battled a $9.5-million shortfall. In Vancouver, the number was $7.1-million. North Vancouver and Central Okanagan, both medium-sized districts, each had to find $3-million in savings.
Staff at the B.C. Ministry of Education said the government actually increased district funding by $84-million for 2009-10, despite an enrolment decline of about 7,000 students provincewide.
But critics say education costs, driven mainly by built-in wage hikes, are increasing far more quickly than government funding.
Last year, the province topped up school district funding by $122-million, but teachers' wages alone increased by $137-million, said B.C. Teachers' Federation president Irene Lanzinger.
She estimated between 500 and 550 full-time teaching positions will be lost this year, mostly to retirement and attrition.
"What we're seeing is the cumulative effect of underfunding over many years, " Ms. Lanzinger said. "The decline in teachers has certainly outpaced the decline in enrolment."
…..
A Ministry of Education spokesman who declined to be identified suggested many of the districts complaining about shortfalls are actually sitting on substantial reserve funds.
Ms. Rimer called that idea "ridiculous."
….
A survey by the Centre for Civic Governance, a Vancouver-based
social- advocacy group, estimates the cost of operating the province's 60 school districts will exceed government funding by about $132-million this year.
Last month, Saanich trustees approved the 5-per-cent cut to its overall budget, the largest annual reduction in district history.
If nothing changes in the provincial government's updated budget this fall, the district will start the 2009-10 school year with 23.5 fewer full-time teaching positions, only one-third of which can be attributed to declining enrolment.
Deep cuts will also affect clerical workers, education assistants, social workers, career programs, field trips, school supplies and even crossing guards.
…
"But with all the funding challenges the government is facing, our budget is probably not going to change this year. We've made lot of difficult choices. We've pretty much hit the wall." (board chair Mary Lynne Rimer)
That's a widespread sentiment among B.C. school trustees these days. The painful, cost-cutting decisions in Saanich this spring were duplicated to varying degree in dozens of school districts across the province.
Surrey, the province's largest school district, battled a $9.5-million shortfall. In Vancouver, the number was $7.1-million. North Vancouver and Central Okanagan, both medium-sized districts, each had to find $3-million in savings.
Staff at the B.C. Ministry of Education said the government actually increased district funding by $84-million for 2009-10, despite an enrolment decline of about 7,000 students provincewide.
But critics say education costs, driven mainly by built-in wage hikes, are increasing far more quickly than government funding.
Last year, the province topped up school district funding by $122-million, but teachers' wages alone increased by $137-million, said B.C. Teachers' Federation president Irene Lanzinger.
She estimated between 500 and 550 full-time teaching positions will be lost this year, mostly to retirement and attrition.
"What we're seeing is the cumulative effect of underfunding over many years, " Ms. Lanzinger said. "The decline in teachers has certainly outpaced the decline in enrolment."
…..
A Ministry of Education spokesman who declined to be identified suggested many of the districts complaining about shortfalls are actually sitting on substantial reserve funds.
Ms. Rimer called that idea "ridiculous."
….
A survey by the Centre for Civic Governance, a Vancouver-based
social- advocacy group, estimates the cost of operating the province's 60 school districts will exceed government funding by about $132-million this year.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Speaking of our Charter challenge to Bills 27 and 28....
"Unions get $425,000 to settle rights dispute, The Globe And Mail Tue Jun 16 2009
Section: British Columbia News
Four unions have reached a $425,000 deal with the B.C. government over the loss of job security provisions in their contracts.
It's part of the settlement arising out of the Supreme Court of Canada decision that ruled the B.C. government infringed on the rights of unions by enacting Bill 29.
The settlement will be divided among workers of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Hospital Employees Union, the B.C.
Government Employees Union and the Health Sciences Association.
BCGEU president Darryl Walker says the agreement will help union members who filed grievances after Bill 29 was brought in by government."
(Bills 27 and 28 are the ones that 'vapourized' our Collective Agreement and stripped many clauses from the CA we were forced to work under)
Section: British Columbia News
Four unions have reached a $425,000 deal with the B.C. government over the loss of job security provisions in their contracts.
It's part of the settlement arising out of the Supreme Court of Canada decision that ruled the B.C. government infringed on the rights of unions by enacting Bill 29.
The settlement will be divided among workers of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Hospital Employees Union, the B.C.
Government Employees Union and the Health Sciences Association.
BCGEU president Darryl Walker says the agreement will help union members who filed grievances after Bill 29 was brought in by government."
(Bills 27 and 28 are the ones that 'vapourized' our Collective Agreement and stripped many clauses from the CA we were forced to work under)
Thursday, June 11, 2009
June Staff Rep / Exec Meeting
Don't forget Monday is the last meeting of the year - and it includes a thank you meal at the Blue Toque afterward.
The meeting begins at 4:30 @ the FDTA office. See you there.
The meeting begins at 4:30 @ the FDTA office. See you there.
Post and Fill, 2009 edition
Well, SD5 is doing a good job so far on the post and fill process. The postings came out 'clumped' together, allowing members the opportunity to see 'all' the jobs out there, and to apply for as many as they want - all at once, and in the order of priority that they desire.
A few members ended up getting transfers "at the last second" as a result of retirements that were announced. Again, the employer seemed to do this right this year.
Sadly, with fewer dollars and fewer students in the system, there are fewer employment opportunities in the Valley.
Expect the next round of postings in about 2 weeks.
A few members ended up getting transfers "at the last second" as a result of retirements that were announced. Again, the employer seemed to do this right this year.
Sadly, with fewer dollars and fewer students in the system, there are fewer employment opportunities in the Valley.
Expect the next round of postings in about 2 weeks.
From the papers...
Teachers face an uncertain future; Cycle of layoffs and rehiring starts again at the end of June, The Daily News (Nanaimo) Wed Jun 10 2009. Robert Barron (excerpts)
More than 260 of nearly 1,000 teachers currently working in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district have no idea where, or if, they will work this fall.
There are 107 teachers working under temporary contracts (expiring on June 30) and 161 more are being laid off due to complicated wording in their collective agreement.
Drafted in 1990, before declining enrolment started to affect the district, the agreement stipulates that teachers with less than four years and two months seniority lose their jobs at the end of the school year to allow positions to be opened up for full-time staff returning from leave.
While most of the laid-off teachers will be rehired, there's no guarantee that they will return to the same school or know what subjects they will teach.
Kip Wood, president of the Nanaimo District Teachers' Association, …. hopes ongoing discussions with the district might yield a better system.
Donna Allen, chairwoman of the district's board of trustees, agreed that the layoff and recall process doesn't work well and needs improvement.
…..
Wood said most of the laid-off teachers should be informed of their new postings in the first two weeks of July, but some won't know their status until the last weeks in August when school staffing levels are finalized, meaning an unsettled summer for many instructors.
…..
Schwazenegger pushes digital textbook in California, English News Service Tue Jun 9 2009 (excerpts)
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday visited a high school in the state to introduce digital textbooks, which would enable the students not to carry heavy textbooks to school.
The governor launched an initiative in May to make California the first state in the United States to offer schools free, open-source digital textbooks for high school students.
"Kids are very familiar listening to music digitally online,"
Schwarzenegger said, listing some social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.
…
"Textbooks are outdated as far as I'm concerned. How can kids be competitive in this economy when textbooks are stale and outdated?
……
The state education department and educators also will determine whether free educational materials already on the Internet are suitable for school use.
The use of digital textbooks at schools is one way to reduce expenses as California is facing a huge budget deficit. An average traditional textbook costs about 75 to 100 U.S. dollars, but a digital textbook is much cheaper, and many of them are even free, reports said. A digital book reader can hold about 200 books.
It is estimated that for a school district with about 10,000 high school students, the use of free digital textbooks in just science and math classes could save up to 2 million dollars.
…..
Big and bloated are words that come to mind, The Province Thu Jun 11 2009
Michael Smyth (excerpts)
For a cabinet that's supposed to cut the fat out of government, you'd think Premier Gordon Campbell would have led by example yesterday and unveiled a lean, mean A-Team to get the job done.
Instead, Campbell appointed a fatter cabinet -- the club went from
22 members to 24 -- in a hotly anticipated shuffle. He also appointed half-a-dozen "parliamentary secretaries" -- a backbencher perk Campbell used to sneer at -- who each bag nearly $15,000 a year in bonus bucks for doing little work.
By swelling the size of the cabinet ranks by nine per cent, Campbell loaded more costs on to the shoulders of weary taxpayers who will soon be walloped by government service cuts. Every cabinet minister gets a big car, a big office, a big staff and a big travel budget.
This from the same guy who once bragged he could run the province with 12 cabinet ministers. This from the same guy who went completely ballistic when then-NDP-premier Glen Clark added four ministers to his cabinet, for a total of just 19.
"Taxpayers are getting soaked for a bigger cabinet!" Campbell railed back then. If 19 was a soaking, then I guess 24 is a completely water-logged saturation.
The bitter irony here is this fatter cabinet will be charged with cutting nearly $2 billion in spending out of the budget. The recession-driven belt-tightening is already causing pain. The government even pulled the funding for a van that cruised Vancouver streets at night to protect sex-trade workers.
…..
…. Falcon as health minister? …. I suspect this appointment indicates big changes are coming to the ministry -- like the possible amalgamation of health authorities.
One more gripe: Six ministers from Vancouver? That's a quarter of the whole cabinet. So much for Campbell's love affair with the "heartlands."
School boards get two-month reprieve; Province gives budget extensions to rework teacher salary funding, Edmonton Journal Thu Jun 11 2009. Sarah O'Donnell
(excerpts)
Alberta's education minister is giving school boards an extra two months to approve their budgets for the coming school year.
Dave Hancock issued the extension last week as the province continues to wrestle over the budget for teachers' salaries in the coming year.
The teachers' union agreed to a five-year contract in 2007 that awarded teachers an annual pay increase every September, based on Statistics Canada's calculation of Albertans' average weekly earnings over the previous year.
Earlier this year, it appeared teachers would receive a 4.8-per-cent increase based on that calculation.
In March --after the provincial budget was tabled, but before it was approved -- Statistics Canada altered its formula, reporting in a 5.99-per-cent increase in Albertans' average weekly wages the previous year.
That left Alberta Education and school boards that depend on provincial funding $23 million short.
……
More than 260 of nearly 1,000 teachers currently working in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district have no idea where, or if, they will work this fall.
There are 107 teachers working under temporary contracts (expiring on June 30) and 161 more are being laid off due to complicated wording in their collective agreement.
Drafted in 1990, before declining enrolment started to affect the district, the agreement stipulates that teachers with less than four years and two months seniority lose their jobs at the end of the school year to allow positions to be opened up for full-time staff returning from leave.
While most of the laid-off teachers will be rehired, there's no guarantee that they will return to the same school or know what subjects they will teach.
Kip Wood, president of the Nanaimo District Teachers' Association, …. hopes ongoing discussions with the district might yield a better system.
Donna Allen, chairwoman of the district's board of trustees, agreed that the layoff and recall process doesn't work well and needs improvement.
…..
Wood said most of the laid-off teachers should be informed of their new postings in the first two weeks of July, but some won't know their status until the last weeks in August when school staffing levels are finalized, meaning an unsettled summer for many instructors.
…..
Schwazenegger pushes digital textbook in California, English News Service Tue Jun 9 2009 (excerpts)
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday visited a high school in the state to introduce digital textbooks, which would enable the students not to carry heavy textbooks to school.
The governor launched an initiative in May to make California the first state in the United States to offer schools free, open-source digital textbooks for high school students.
"Kids are very familiar listening to music digitally online,"
Schwarzenegger said, listing some social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.
…
"Textbooks are outdated as far as I'm concerned. How can kids be competitive in this economy when textbooks are stale and outdated?
……
The state education department and educators also will determine whether free educational materials already on the Internet are suitable for school use.
The use of digital textbooks at schools is one way to reduce expenses as California is facing a huge budget deficit. An average traditional textbook costs about 75 to 100 U.S. dollars, but a digital textbook is much cheaper, and many of them are even free, reports said. A digital book reader can hold about 200 books.
It is estimated that for a school district with about 10,000 high school students, the use of free digital textbooks in just science and math classes could save up to 2 million dollars.
…..
Big and bloated are words that come to mind, The Province Thu Jun 11 2009
Michael Smyth (excerpts)
For a cabinet that's supposed to cut the fat out of government, you'd think Premier Gordon Campbell would have led by example yesterday and unveiled a lean, mean A-Team to get the job done.
Instead, Campbell appointed a fatter cabinet -- the club went from
22 members to 24 -- in a hotly anticipated shuffle. He also appointed half-a-dozen "parliamentary secretaries" -- a backbencher perk Campbell used to sneer at -- who each bag nearly $15,000 a year in bonus bucks for doing little work.
By swelling the size of the cabinet ranks by nine per cent, Campbell loaded more costs on to the shoulders of weary taxpayers who will soon be walloped by government service cuts. Every cabinet minister gets a big car, a big office, a big staff and a big travel budget.
This from the same guy who once bragged he could run the province with 12 cabinet ministers. This from the same guy who went completely ballistic when then-NDP-premier Glen Clark added four ministers to his cabinet, for a total of just 19.
"Taxpayers are getting soaked for a bigger cabinet!" Campbell railed back then. If 19 was a soaking, then I guess 24 is a completely water-logged saturation.
The bitter irony here is this fatter cabinet will be charged with cutting nearly $2 billion in spending out of the budget. The recession-driven belt-tightening is already causing pain. The government even pulled the funding for a van that cruised Vancouver streets at night to protect sex-trade workers.
…..
…. Falcon as health minister? …. I suspect this appointment indicates big changes are coming to the ministry -- like the possible amalgamation of health authorities.
One more gripe: Six ministers from Vancouver? That's a quarter of the whole cabinet. So much for Campbell's love affair with the "heartlands."
School boards get two-month reprieve; Province gives budget extensions to rework teacher salary funding, Edmonton Journal Thu Jun 11 2009. Sarah O'Donnell
(excerpts)
Alberta's education minister is giving school boards an extra two months to approve their budgets for the coming school year.
Dave Hancock issued the extension last week as the province continues to wrestle over the budget for teachers' salaries in the coming year.
The teachers' union agreed to a five-year contract in 2007 that awarded teachers an annual pay increase every September, based on Statistics Canada's calculation of Albertans' average weekly earnings over the previous year.
Earlier this year, it appeared teachers would receive a 4.8-per-cent increase based on that calculation.
In March --after the provincial budget was tabled, but before it was approved -- Statistics Canada altered its formula, reporting in a 5.99-per-cent increase in Albertans' average weekly wages the previous year.
That left Alberta Education and school boards that depend on provincial funding $23 million short.
……
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