Let’s make education an election issue!

IPE/BC is an independent, non-partisan organization, however we recognize that IPE/BC Fellows and guest authors hold a range of views and interests relative to public schools, education issues, and the political landscape in BC. Perspectives is an opportunity for Fellows and others to share their ideas in short, accessible essays.

Let’s Make Education an Election Issue!

By Patti Bacchus

September 24, 2024

Here we go again. My inbox is filling up with urgent pleas from B.C.’s political parties (well, mainly one of them in my case), wanting my money, my time, and space on my lawn for a sign.

As we head to the polls in just a few weeks, we’re hearing a lot of inflammatory rhetoric as the campaign kicks off, but not much about education. This needs to change.

Public education is the cornerstone of democracy and the solution to many of the most challenging problems we face, including those issues party leaders are discussing in the news media: crime, homelessness, addictions, mental health, and inequality. These are all downstream effects of children not getting their needs appropriately met in their early years.

Whether you have kids in school or not, education should be a priority as you head to the polls and consider donating to a campaign.

Don’t get me wrong: We have an excellent public education system, but it’s chronically underfunded. Those working on its front lines have been warning us for years that they can’t achieve the best outcomes in overcrowded classrooms without adequate support and staffing in poorly maintained buildings.

We have an urgent teacher shortage that is stressing the system, shortchanging students, and causing those working within it to consider leaving, risking the problem getting worse.

Many of our schools are aging, inadequate, and seismically unsafe. In some communities, families have to enter lotteries to get their kids into neighbourhood schools because governments have failed to adequately fund school construction and seismic upgrades.

We’re seeing record levels of public funds being diverted to private schools—over $570 million in direct annual provincial funding grants alone, along with various tax exemptions and deductions. This diverts money from the public treasury that could otherwise fund public schools.

According to Statistics Canada, B.C. now spends less of its Gross Provincial Product (GPP) on K-12 education than every other province except Newfoundland and Labrador, causing public school boards to cut programs and staffing and struggle to meet the needs of diverse student populations.

The provincial election is an opportunity to push parties and candidates on what they’ll do for our public education system and hold them accountable for what they haven’t done.

There’s still a backlog of major school seismic-upgrade or replacement projects waiting for funding. Kids are still coerced into writing the FSAs (even though teachers say they have little value and actually cause some harm). B.C. still lags behind most other provinces in per-student funding.

B.C. teachers’ salaries are still lower than many of their Canadian counterparts. Surrey still has far too many portables, and Vancouver families in many parts of the city have to enter lotteries to get their kids into neighbourhood schools—if, unlike those who live in the Olympic Village, their community actually has a school. And as we’ve seen repeatedly, when seismic upgrades or replacements finally get funded, the money is not adequate, and the schools end up too small.

Support for students with special needs is uneven and too often, inadequate, and kids still get sent home and miss school due to a lack of support.

Parents still fundraise for basics, and teachers still buy resources for their classrooms with their own money.

It’s time to let parties and candidates know what you want to see if they want your vote, donation, or volunteer time. If they want to put a sign in your window or on your lawn, demand to know what they’re committing to for public education.  I’ll be letting my candidates know that having among the lowest per-student funding in Canada doesn’t cut it. I want to know when they’re going to complete all outstanding school seismic upgrades.

The IPE/BC has prepared some questions for parties and candidates. Feel free to use them to ask your candidates questions to ensure they know that education is indeed an issue that matters to voters.

IPE Questions for Candidates:

1. Funding: B.C. has fallen behind the rest of Canada in how it funds its public schools. The only province that spends less of its GDP on education is Newfoundland and Labrador. B.C.’s relative contribution to public school budgets has fallen significantly from 2000 to the present, considering what the province can afford.

For the 2023/24 school financial year, B.C. reports spending grants of $6,754 million across the province’s 60 school districts. If B.C. were to spend at the “% of GPP” rate found in the year 2000, this budgetary allocation would increase by $3.8 billion to $10.552 billion.

What will you do to increase funding to B.C.’s public schools to ensure students receive the opportunities and supports their counterparts in other provinces are able to access?

2. Staffing: B.C. schools are struggling with an urgent shortage of qualified teachers and special education support workers. This is shortchanging students and putting increased stress on school employees, making it difficult to retain them.

What will you do to recruit and retain teachers and education support workers?

3. Facilities: The Ministry of Education is forecasting significant enrolment growth in B.C.’s public schools, yet many districts already have overcrowded schools and not enough space for all in-catchment students. Hundreds of B.C. schools are still at high risk of significant structural damage in the event of an earthquake.

How would you ensure B.C.’s students have access to safe, neighborhood schools, in a timely way?

4. Reconciliation: Historically and statistically, Indigenous students have had poorer outcomes in school due to Canada’s history of colonialism, discrimination, and, in particular, residential schools.

What will you do to ensure Indigenous students receive educational opportunities and supports to enable their success in B.C.’s public schools?

5. Inclusion and Safety: Ensuring that schools are inclusive and safe environments is crucial for the well-being and success of all students. Programs that support students’ understanding of sexual orientation, gender identify and anti-discrimination are essential in fostering a respectful and welcoming school culture.

How will you ensure schools are safe, inclusive, and welcoming for all students, and how will you support and protect programs that educate and support students regarding sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) and other anti-discriminatory programs and practices?

See you at the polling station!

Patti Bacchus is a public education advocate, commentator, and IPE/BC Board member, who was also the Vancouver School Board’s longest-serving chair, from 2008-2014. She has also served on the Board of the Broadbent Institute. Patti has written extensively about public education issues in the Georgia Straight. She believes that a strong and well-resourced public education system is key to a healthy and just society.

Advocating for our public education system

Advocating for BC’s Public Education System 

At IPE/BC we believe that public education is in the public interest. A high quality public school system that is accessible and welcoming to all is essential to a strong democracy and a healthy, equitable, and prosperous society.  We expect a great deal from our public schools and, in turn, they need our support. Together we must advocate for the funding, staffing, support and conditions that students, educators, parents, and school communities need. We’ve created this webpage to share resources for engagement and advocacy.  We’ll continue to add to it, so please check back regularly and don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have questions or materials you’d like to recommend.

Key Issues

Education Funding 

Five Myths About Education Funding

Public Dollars Should go to Public Schools

BC Education Funding Facts 

Budget 2024 -What’s in Store for Public Education

-Restoring the Percentage of the GDP Spent on K-12 Public Education 

-IPE/BC Letter of Concern

Public School Staffing Shortages

-Teacher Shortages and Institutional Responses 

-Reflections on the Teacher Shortage: How Teachers are Paid Reinforces the Problem

-Attention to Staffing Shortages Urgently Needed

Funding and Supporting Inclusion

-Focusing Funding on Vulnerable Students (Recommendation 2, IPE Submission to Budget  Consultation Process 

School Facilities and Overcrowding

-Gone Forever: The Folly in Selling Off Public School Properties 

-Submission to the 2024 Budget Consultation Process (Recommendation 2 )

Privatization and Commercialization in Public Education

A Big No to Big O

-Choice- the Formula for Inequality 

-Beyond Resistance to Privatization: Rebuilding and Reclaiming Public Education

 

Contacts 

Premier, Hon. David Eby- Premier@gov.bc.ca

Minister of Education and Child Care, Hon. Lisa Beare-  ECC.Minister@gov.bc.ca

Minister of Infrastructure, Hon. Bowinn Ma

Minister of Finance, Hon. Brenda Bailey- FIN.Minister@gov.bc.ca

School Board Chairpersons and Superintendents– Search by district and role

MLAs by constituency

Education Associations and Advocacy Organizations

 

IPE/BC Engagement During the 2024 BC Election 

During the campaign period, IPE/BC sent a set of questions on education issues to the candidates in every BC electoral district. The questions, which remain relevant and reflect our institute’s perspectives on the needs of public education, are included here for your interest, as are the replies we received from candidates and parties.

Questions for candidates 

Responses

Published party platforms

Looking Ahead 

BC Legislative Schedule

The first legislative session for the newly elected BC MLAs is slated for February 2025. In the leadup and during the session, why not contact your MLA to let them know that you support strong, inclusive, well-funded, accessible public schools and want to see the pressing needs in our public education system addressed.

-Local Government Elections 

The next BC local government election, including the election of school trustees, is slated for October 17, 2026.  In the meantime,  consider attending a school board meeting, calling for vocal and determined advocacy for the public schools in your district, and thinking about running for election in 2026.

-Do School Board Elections Matter? 

Gone forever- the folly of selling off public school properties

IPE/BC is an independent, non-partisan organization, however we recognize that IPE/BC Fellows and guest authors hold a range of views and interests relative to public schools, education issues, and the political landscape in BC. Perspectives is an opportunity for Fellows and others to share their ideas in short, accessible essays.

Gone forever- the folly of selling off public school properties

by Rory Brown

September 12, 2024

One of the downstream effects of the disastrous public education policies of the BC Liberal era is the pressure on school districts to sell off school land deemed ‘surplus.’ The BC Liberals closed 267 schools during their tenure, and K-12 funding fell to all-time lows. They also created a program (that still exists) to sell property deemed ‘surplus.’

Currently, BC has again fallen to ninth place for provincial funding in Canada for K-12 public education, and the pressure on local school boards to generate funds through the sale of the family silver (school board and provincially owned land) continues unabated. Like many things in Public Education, the devil is in the details, and we’d all do well to pay close attention to decisions of local school boards when it comes to declaring school lands surplus and especially if there is consideration to sell school lands.

With an astonishing number of schools that need repairs across the province, the temptation to fund new school buildings through the sale of land is keen, yet ultimately foolish and irresponsible. It’s never a good idea to move publicly owned assets into private hands completely and forever. There are always creative and innovative ways that school lands can be used (even to generate income) yet still be kept in the public domain, preserving the perpetual endowment of public assets.

The trouble of course is that much of this land isn’t really surplus and is almost always needed in the future. With the ever-upward march of land values, school properties that are sold are gone forever- unattainable and unaffordable when needed back. Where land values are highest, the pressure to sell land is greatest, and the public has the greatest amount to lose in this folly. In Vancouver, the site of the current Wall centre, worth likely hundreds of millions, was formerly the site of a school.

Worth remembering as well is the obligation of local and provincial governments to consider, consult and seek permission from Indigenous host nations in the disposal and sale of public land that in almost all cases was never ceded away. There are moral and legal prerogatives that are thrown to the wind when public land is sold – usually to land developers whose profit motivation is not in the best interest of the public and certainly not in the best interest of future school-aged children.

In Surrey district, where the population of school-aged children is exploding, the lack of land set aside for new schools is felt keenly as the district packs more and more students into existing schools – many in portable buildings. In Vancouver, where land values are high, schools are in poor repair and some buildings have excess capacity, largely created by the lack of family housing stock in the city, something likely to change in the future as the calls for increased density come from all political camps. North Vancouver district closed and sold many elementary schools during the last twenty years and parents in the district are now desperate for spaces as the density of school-aged children increases past capacity and projections.

We’d all do well to pay close attention to the decisions of local boards when they contemplate the removal of public land from the public endowment. It’s penny-wise but pound-foolish and has implications for many decades to come.

Rory Brown is an IPE/BC board member and long-time public education teacher, advocate and activist. He is currently a member of the BCIT faculty in the Mechanical Engineering Department, Technology Teacher Education Program.  

BC public school enrolment expected to surge in fall of 2024

Perspectives is an opportunity for Fellows and others to share their ideas in short, accessible essays. IPE/BC Fellows hold a range of views and interests relative to public education.

BC public school enrolment expected to surge in the fall of 2024

by John Malcolmson

August 29, 2024

Data recently released by BC’s Ministry of Education shows the province’s public school system anticipating a sizeable increase in student enrolment this fall.

The data is part of the Ministry’s Revenue and Expenditure Information system (https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/education-training/k-12/administration/resource-management/school-district-financial-reporting/revenue-expenditure-tables) and is released in distinct stages within each year as a means of reporting on district budgets.  Because BC’s system of funding allocation is primarily enrolment-driven, the system offers a window of insight into the ebbs and flows of provincial student counts.  Some historical information is also available to allow for cross-year comparisons.

The 2024 figures are estimates so they are subject to change.  That being said, Ministry enrolment forecasts have historically been relatively accurate.

Last school year (2023/24) provincial enrolment dipped a small amount with about 1,400 fewer students in attendance compared with the previous year.  However, this September, reports drawn from the school budgeting process show BC anticipating an additional 21,000 students for a net growth rate of 3.7%.  If this projection pans out, this will be the first time BC’s public schools have crested above the 600,000 FTE enrolment mark since 1999.

The chart below places this number in recent historical perspective.

At first glance, the two-decade period shows a system in enrolment decline for the first half and in enrolment rebound and growth for the second.  Over the period leading up to this September, the annual rate of enrolment change has averaged +0.4 per cent.

In the coming school year, almost three-quarters of BC’s school districts – 44 in total – are expected to grow while the remaining 16 will likely contract.  Of the latter, most are in northern coastal or interior locations where school enrolments track population migration triggered by changes in local economic conditions.

The larger “growth cohort” shows some eye-popping rates of expected growth.  The following table shows the top twelve growth districts, all of which are expected to expand more than five per cent.

Of the twelve, seven are within the Lower Mainland region and most are in suburban areas.  Two are south/mid-Island while the remainder are located elsewhere.  What is truly fascinating is that eight of the above 12 districts experienced enrolment loss last year!  There is no immediate explanation for how or why the enrolment picture is expected to change so drastically for this group in the coming fall.

Budgeting implications

Enrolment change has significant implications for school district budgeting. Recent commentary by the Institute for Public Education / BC has drawn attention to the fact that BC’s financial support for K-12 education has fallen significantly in recent times when measured in relation to the key variable of provincial economic growth. As a result, and despite annual reported increases in nominal funding, school districts in this province face an ongoing reality of financial austerity. (See IPE’s recent letter to Premier Eby on this subject https://instituteforpubliceducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/June-25-letter-to-Premeir.pdf)

Changes in enrollment inject a wild card variable into the triaging that austerity invariably produces. When enrollments are in decline, boards of education face a continual need to reallocate meagre budgetary resources in efforts to manage the inevitable reduction in service delivery while limiting the damage done to existing school programs, staff and those who rely on affected programs.

BC’s expected enrolment surge this fall offers a unique opportunity for governments to assess problems created by the declining level of funding priority given to K-12 public education.  This could and should result in efforts to institute a more robust system of funding support able to support districts, staff and students as they negotiate changes produced by a growth surge that could become a lasting fixture.

John D. Malcolmson, Ph.D, is an IPE/BC board member and a consulting sociologist providing research advice to unions on matters relating to compensation.

 

Public education should be free

Perspectives is an opportunity for Fellows and others to share their ideas in short, accessible essays. IPE/BC Fellows hold a range of views and interests relative to public education.

Public education should be free

by Larry Kuehn

August 23, 2024

That is the principle pursued by then Victoria school trustee John Young when he went to court against his own school board to get a ruling that provincial law meant that fees could not be charged. The court case was successful in 2006.

If that news stuck in your mind for nearly twenty years, you may have been surprised when your school handed you a bill for fees. But you wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the impact was overturned when the government in 2007 passed a new provincial law and procedures for schools to charge for some things.

The policy defines what can be subject of a charge: “items such as materials, supplies, equipment, safety devices, exercise books, uniforms and the rental of musical instruments, which are intended for the personal use of the students.” Pretty broad, especially with the “such as” indicating that there could be other items.

The school district will have a procedure defined to carry this out. It should be available on the school district website or available at the school.

The North Vancouver policy, as an example, says that the school principal is responsible for establishing the fees for the school. However, she “shall consult with appropriate teachers, staff, staff committee, students and the Parents’ Advisory Council prior to establish the fee.” Do you recall that consultation last school year?

In North Van, the proposed schedule of fees is supposed to be annually presented at a school PAC meeting in time for the list to go to the Superintendent by April 30 for the next school year or November 1 in secondary schools. Check your local policy for process and dates.

John Young went to court because he believed that charging fees produced inequalities. He grew up in a large family in poverty, himself. He was a teacher and principal in schools where he saw the impact on some students of not having what the other kids had, or having to plead poverty to get what they needed. As a school trustee for some twenty years, he heard from parents who felt ashamed that they weren’t able to ensure their children had the same opportunity as some others.

When the law overturning the court decision was passed, there was a requirement that districts adopt a policy for a fee waiver in cases of financial hardship and how the waiver can be obtained. The policy is supposed to be fair, consistent and confidential. You can find how your district provides this in the district policy or ask the school principal.

That was not enough for John. It still can make students feel marginalized based on their family circumstances. He believed that public education should be free and that meant it should include any resources that are a required part of the program of the school.

John continued advocating for the principle that public education should really be free until he died in his 90s. It is a cry worth taking up by the rest of us.

Larry Kuehn is a member of the IPE/BC Board of Directors and chair of the Research and Programs Committee.  He is a research associate for the CCPA and retired BCTF Director of Research and Technology. He has written extensively on education matters including funding,  globalization, technology and privacy.

 

NATO’s 2% and public school funding

Perspectives is an opportunity for Fellows and others to share their ideas in short, accessible essays. IPE/BC Fellows hold a range of views and interests relative to public education.

NATO’s 2% and public school funding 

by John Malcolmson

July 17, 2024

It is hard to turn on the TV these days without being besieged by news of Canada’s “failure” to meet a “2% of GDP” defense spending target.  We are all invited to share in the shame of this failure.  Canada the laggard, the freeloader, the scofflaw!  Busy spending money on other things while ignoring important international commitments!

By my “back of the spreadsheet” calculations, moving Canada to 2% of GDP on defence would have us spending about $14 billion more each year going forward.  And yes, that is not a typo – it is billions we are talking about.

The NATO-induced commitment is not something prescribed by law.  Nor is it a treaty commitment.  It is a political deal hashed out within a supranational military organization that hasn’t been elected by anyone.  It is very telling that when the Prime Minister announced his recent 2% timetable, it was not done in parliament, or even within Canada – it was done in a European forum in front of politicians, bureaucrats, generals and defense pundits – and covered by a mainstream media that increasingly functions as echo chamber for military-industrial interests.  This is the group calling the defense spending shots and the group Canada has decided to answer to.

What if, instead, we agreed to commit 2% of our economy to running our public school system?  Not too long ago (2013) BC did spend the equivalent of this amount on school operations but those days are now in the rearview mirror.  IPE has done past research on this very question and recently sent a letter to BC’s Premier touching on this topic

Currently we spend in the order of 1.6% of GPP (Gross Provincial Product) to run our public schools.  Increasing it to 2% would pump an additional $1.67 billion into the K-12 system annually.

Admittedly, comparing defense and school spending has some challenges.  Defense is a federal responsibility while public education is provincial.  NATO spending plans include capital outlays while our suggested focus on public education funding is limited to operating expenses.  And is the idea of linking school funding to GPP the best option for us to consider when looking at how we support public education?

All this aside, the idea that we must spend more on defense while holding current financial rations in place for schools raises other important issues.  Decades of neoliberal globalization have left Canadian industry and society ill-equipped to benefit from boosted defense spending.  Case in point: plans for Canada to partner with other countries to acquire a new submarine fleet.  The lion’s share of the billions to be spent there will go offshore once decisions are finalized.  Foreign military contractors like Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, General Dynamics and Raytheon wait in the wings, salivating at the prospect of such new largesse.  And little in the way of spinoff benefits for Canadians.

Compare that with a public school system which pushes spending on wages, salaries, services and supplies into every single BC community, large or small.  And think of what we might do with an additional $1.67 billion in school funding every year:

  • Pay teachers, support staff and others’ wages and salaries that would make careers in public education a more attractive option,
  • Address the longer-term sustainability of our public system, including things like mentoring and supporting new staff currently at increased threat of burnout,
  • Have smaller classes, something research confirms are better able to deal with complex student needs
  • Overhaul and fund a special education system straining under the impact of decades-long neglect,
  • Expand and improve professional development to ensure all staff are better equipped to deal with complex and changing needs of both students and the school system as a whole,
  • Accelerate necessary repair and maintenance on existing facilities so that, among other things, older school buildings aren’t death traps when a major seismic event eventually happens,
  • Ensure all schools have the best technological resources at their disposal, those able to support valued educational practices,
  • Look at possibilities for better integrating schools into local and community networks providing other services (like childcare) to children and families,
  • Other? (Fill in your priority – ‘hopes and dreams’ encouraged) _____________________

Here’s a radical idea – encourage and support experimentation and innovation aimed at making schools better able to deal with the social and educational challenges of the future.

Or maybe something more modest?  How about moving the public school system off the treadmill of endless triage caused by resource shortage and funding insecurity?

Funding decisions are about the priorities we make for how we want to live.  And we would be wise to remember money spent in one area is not available in another.

Do we want to steer money to funding a military alliance whose recent history is one of fueling war, conflict and tension in distant places around the globe?  Or do we want to support and improve a vital public institution, and ensure its sustainability for the generations to come?

 

John D. Malcolmson, Ph.D, is an IPE/BC board member and a consulting sociologist providing research advice to unions on matters relating to compensation.

BC Budget 2024: What is in store for public schools and the K-12 system as a whole?

The budgetary approach favoured by the current government centres on an explicit targeting of new monies to a small set of defined needs like contract costs and monies for more students. Yet our schools are complex and expansive institutions that face inflationary pressure affecting not just wages and salaries but benefit costs, and those related to learning materials, utilities, specialized services, professional development, recruitment, transportation, IT and a host of other factors. While the annual Funding Allocation System is intended to capture these demands when budgetary allocations are set, there has not been a clear or consistent recognition of budgetary pressures in these areas and how they impinge upon school system mandates in the instructional arena.

Read our analysis of the education funding in Budget 2024 here.

Upcoming Forum and AGM

The Institute for Public Education/BC will be holding a forum on the teacher shortage in conjunction with its AGM. We’d be very pleased to see you there. Please don’t hesitate to share this information to others interested in quality, inclusive, accessible public education.

Keynote address: Teacher Shortage, Teacher Supply, Teacher Demand, or Teacher Employment, ensuring access to high quality teachers for BC students.

We’re delighted to have Dr. Dan Laitsch, Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University,  as our keynote speaker. Dan is a former IPE/BC Board member and Chair of IPE/BC and has been the president of the Confederation of University Faculty Associations, British Columbia, a long serving Director on the SFU Faculty Association (SFUFA) and former Treasurer and President of the association. A researcher with the SFU Centre for the Study of Educational Leadership and Policy, his primary teaching area is Educational Leadership. He co-edits the open access peer reviewed International Journal of Policy and Leadership (www.ijepl.org ) and is active in the American Educational Research Association SIG on Research Use. Dr. Laitsch’s research examines the use and misuse of research in policy and practice; the impact of neoliberal policies on educational systems; and the role of motivation within organizational and policy change efforts

Date: March 7, 2024

Time: 7:00 to 9:00 pm

Location: Segal Building, 500 Granville Street, Vancouver   

See below for directions to the venue and instructions on how to participate online if you’re not able to attend in person.

Programme

The meeting will begin with a territorial acknowledgement and reflection, followed by the keynote address. Following a short break for informal conversations, the AGM, with the presentation of our annual report, discussion of current initiatives, and appointment of directors will take place.

Directions to the venue

The Segal Centre, at 500 Granville Street, is readily accessible by bus, Canada Line and Skytrain. It is just two blocks from Waterfront Station.

If you’re travelling by car, two of the closest parking lots are the Imperial Parking garage at 450 West Cordova St and the Diamond Parking garage at 443 Seymour St..

Participating online

If you’re not able to attend in person but want to join in online, please email us at info@publicedbc.ca and we’ll be happy to send you the link.

IPE/BC brief to federal budget consultations calls for action on universal school food program

The Institute for Public Education/ BC has called on the federal government to place an urgent priority on the implementation of a national, universal school food program in the upcoming budget. In a brief submitted to the federal pre-budget consultation, we speak to the importance of such a program in helping to address food insecurity and poverty throughout the country. Additionally, we explain the positive impact of a universal program on student learning, well-being, health and development, and the educational opportunities it would provide for all school-aged children and youth. Read the full brief submitted to the 2024 budget consultation here. 

CCPA Policy Note focused on Hopes and Dreams for BC’s Public Schools

Thank you very much to the CCPA for  the January 11th Policy Note on  IPE/BC’s Hopes and Dreams project and for inviting readers to participate. We know there are many significant problems that need addressing in our public schools- teacher shortage, inadequate support for students with diverse learning needs, and underfunding, to name a few. At the same time, we think that it’s important to talk about our aspirations for our education system, students and learning in BC and to help inform policy through the voices of British Columbians. What are your hopes and dreams for public education in BC?  Check out the links in this article to join in the conversation.