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.

Hopes and Dreams Project Featured on Radio CFRO

IPE/BC’s community engagement project, Hopes and Dreams for Public Education in BC, was featured on Radio CFRO, Vancouver’s Cooperative Radio, on December 16th. Bárbara Silva, IPE/BC Board member, spoke with Jane Williams on Redeye about the project and the ways that IPE/BC is reaching out to British Columbians and inviting them to share their perspectives. Thank you very much to Coop Radio for this interview and for inviting listeners to participate.
We hope you’ll take a few minutes to listen to the segment (scroll down to December 16th) and, of course, we also hope you’ll join with others in BC and participate by sending in your thoughts. 

Survey Results Very Worrisome

June 8, 2023

We know that a high quality, accessible and inclusive public education system is essential to a strong democracy. We also know that teachers’ working conditions are students’ learning conditions. A recent report shines a light on the serious issues that need to be addressed so that our valuable public education system can continue to live up to the important role it plays in our society.

As you’ll see from this report on the BCTF’s recent member survey, the pressures on teachers are becoming untenable. We can only expect that  BC’s critical teacher shortage will get worse if the conditions are not improved. Increasing workload, inability to secure the support their students need, staffing shortages, and oversized classes are among the top factors having a worrying impact on the physical and mental health of teachers. Teachers considering leaving the profession within the next two years pointed to  inadequate working conditions, lack of support for students with diverse needs, stress, and burnout as key reasons. They identified not being able to get the necessary support for students who need it as the key impact of the staffing shortages.

It’s well worth taking the time to read the full report.  As you’ll see, the situation calls for immediate, concerted government attention.

2023 BCTF Member Survey Summary Report

New School Monies Mostly to Cover Current Cost Pressures

New School Monies Mostly to Cover Current Cost Pressures

By John Malcolmson, Institute for Public Education/BC

March 1, 2023

Tuesday’s budget announces a significant increase in funding for K-12 schools. On the operating side of the ledger, there appears to be in excess of $625 million in additional money, according to the Education Ministry’s Service Plan document.

Before the champagne corks start popping, it is worthwhile to keep a few salient (and sobering) thoughts in mind.

➢ Current year funding for public schools is in the order of $6,330 million, so the above scale of increase is clearly sizeable and in the vicinity of 10 per cent.

➢ Our schools are highly labour intensive. In 2022/23, about $4,528 million was spent on wages and salaries for teachers, support staff, and administrative staff. Benefit costs that vary directly with wage spending are likely to add in another $830 million in costs, so the cost of maintaining the staff that run our schools comes to about $5,362 million. These workers are in line to receive a 6.75% increase in April, so that will absorb a full $362 million in new funding.

➢ School enrolments are slated to rise by 1.4%. If one assumes a direct scaling in system costs to meet the needs of these new students, that will take up another $89 million.

➢ Expected inflation on non-wage costs in our schools – close to a $1 billion annually – will absorb another $58 million.

➢ The newly-enhanced school food program is projected to cost an additional $59 million in 2023/24.

If you tally up the underlined amounts above, you get about $568 million already committed. That leaves just $60 odd million to deal with costs associated with new initiatives or the Classroom Enhancement Fund to hire new teachers, or the Learning Improvement Funding dedicated to building up Education Assistant time with students with special needs. Not insubstantial of course but a far cry less than what the headlines alone suggest.

Stretched to the Limit – IPE/BC Forum, March 2

IPE/BC is pleased to be hosting a forum, Stretched to the Limit, in conjunction with its AGM on March 2, 2023 from 5:00-8:00 pm in the CN Strategy Room, Room 2800 in the Segal Building, 500 Granville St. Vancouver.  We’ll be hearing from:

Annabree Fairweather, Executive Director, CUFA/BC

Andrée Gacoin, Director of Information, Research, and International Solidarity, BCTF

Tracy Humphries, Executive Director, BC EdAccess

Discussant- Dan Laitsch, IPE/BC Chairperson

“Public sector services in Canada, like health care, are making headlines across the country for a crisis in service delivery. Millions of Canadians cannot find a family doctor, many can’t access critical surgeries and treatments due to lengthening waitlists, and the professionals entrusted with our care are experiencing burnout and leaving the profession in high numbers. These challenges are unfolding, even as health care takes up a larger percentage of GDP than ever before, reaching a high of 13.8% in 2020.

Education is on the verge of a similar crisis. The teacher shortage is reaching crisis proportions,  universities are crumbling, and provincial governments are treating educators as if they are the problem rather than partners in revitalization. Investment in K-12 education in BC is at historic lows, just 1.6% of GDP in 2019, half what it was in 1982. This panel will bring together senior leaders in the education sector to discuss the looming crisis facing our sector, as well as help us begin to explore what our hopes and dreams for a revitalized education sector could look like.”

We’d love to have you attend to join in the discussion, network with others committed to quality, inclusive, accessible public schools, and share your hopes and dreams for public education in BC.

Click here for more information. 

 

 

Inflation, bargaining and the threat to labour peace in the schools

Contract negotiations for public school teachers and support staff are underway with the backdrop of years of mandate-restricted bargaining and a current period of mounting inflation. What has been the impact of these restrictions on the salaries and wages of those working in BC’s public schools and on the dollars dedicated to public education in BC?  Why has BC’s spending on education as a percentage of GDP slid from 2.8% in 2001 to 1.7% in 2021? Researcher and IPE/BC Board member, John Malcolmson, throughly examines these very timely questions in the latest IPE/BC Occassional Paper.  This paper was originally published on April 21 2022 and was updated on September 10, 2022. 

Occasional Paper Series

Occassional Paper #8 November 2022

Choice- The Formula for Inequality

Where choice is prioritized, public schools are less and less places where children from all walks of life can learn and grow across socioeconomic, cultural, and religious differences. Schools become places of homogeneity. Schools are no longer seen as places or opportunities to overcome social differences, but through choice, are now ways to replicate and reinforce social inequities. This kind of segregation does not support social democracy at large. And unfortunately, all this choice is happening using public funds.

Occasional Paper #7 October 2022

When the BC government refused education for Japanese Canadian children, Hideko Hyodo and the community created an alternative

 

When Japanese Canadians were interned during World War II, their children were excluded from B.C. public schools. The interned communities created alternative schools with volunteer teachers trained in summer programs and led by Hideko Hyodo, the only Japanese Canadian teacher in B.C. public schools at the time. She was later awarded the Order of Canada in recognition of her role and the work of these teachers.

Occassional Paper #6     June 2022

Beyond Resistance to Privatization: Rebuilding and Reclaiming Public Education 

“As schools look toward post-pandemic recovery, teacher unions and researchers are at a crucial junction in the defense
of public education. Schools are key public spaces of collective learning and community care for children and youth. Privatization, in contrast, privileges individual and financial interests and undermines education as a public good.”

IPE/BC Fellow and BCTF Director of Information, Research and International Solidarity, Andrée Gacoin, reports on a think tank that focused on privatization  in public education and concluded that, beyond building awareness, what is needed is a clear articulation of what public education is for and why it is important.

Occassional Paper #5      June 2022

COLA-lite: Ready’s Inflation Adjustment for Sea-to-Sky Bus Drivers

BC’s public sector unions are currently locked in negotiations with the province over new collective agreements covering much of BC’s public sector. A key area of contention across several tables – in health care, education, and the provincial public service – is the rising level of price inflation overtaking the provincial economy.   Researcher and IPE/BC Board member John Malcolmson reports on the impact of inflation and the need to adequately address the compensation of public sector workers.

Occasional Paper #4    April  2022 

Inflation, Bargaining and the Threat to Labour Peace in the Schools

Contract negotiations for public school teachers and support staff are underway with the backdrop of years of mandate-restricted bargaining and a current period of mounting inflation. What has been the impact of these restrictions on the salaries and wages of those working in BC’s public schools and on the dollars dedicated to public education in BC?  Why has BC’s spending on education as a percentage of GDP slid from 2.8% in 2001 to 1.7% in 2021?  Researcher and IPE/BC Board member, John Malcolmson, throughly examines these very timely questions in Occassional Paper #4.

This paper as orginally published on April 21, 2022 and was updated on September 10, 2022. 

Occasional Paper #3     August  2021 

COVID Crisis Impacting Board of Education Budgets

This paper examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Board of Education budgets in BC, specifically detailing the loss of revenue from the international student fees.  Implemented by the previous Liberal government and continued by the NDP, the practice of recruiting fee-paying international students to BC’s K-12 public schools to address funding gaps has been adopted by many school boards despite the dangers of relying on unstable funding. Researcher and IPE/BC Director John Malcolmson has examined the 2021/22 school district budgets, adopted by boards in June, and analyzed the significant impact of the loss of this revenue, overall and on a district-by-district basis.

 

Occasional Paper #2          February 2020

Education Funding Models in Canada: Patterns of Similarity and Details of Difference

This technical report summarizes how education funding is structured and distributed in each of the Canadian provinces. Political and social factors influencing public education and how it is funded include neo-liberal ideology, competition with other public services, and the impact of public school advocates. Education is the responsibility of provinces in Canada and the details of how funding is distributed vary according to province. However, there are some common questions and increasingly common patterns in the funding models. Equity is a central intention built into Canadian funding models, although the approaches are subject to contestation. Funding decisions have been increasingly centralized in provincial governments and away from school boards, with boards being eliminated in some provinces. Property taxes are becoming a decreasing source of funding, with provincial revenue from other taxation making up a greater proportion.

Occasional Paper #1      June 2018

The Many Faces of Privatization

Public funding for private schools may be the most obvious way public education in British Columbia is being privatized, but there are other less obvious privatizing strategies at work. This is a working paper for an IPE/BC workshop that offers analysis of 1) the common narratives that legitimize and promote privatization thus drawing the public into a manufactured consent of privatization and 2) specific contexts in which this privatization in manifest, such as personalized learning (especially with technology), choice programs, school fees and fund raising, business principles of school administration, corporate sponsorships, fee paying international student enrollment, and publicly funded private schools.