The Hook

It's all according to plan ...

As Games afoot points out, this is part of a longterm PAB strategy, aided and abetted by a compliant mainstream media. It has always been this way with the Campbell Liberals. A political bait-and-switch, skillfully providing a distraction from HST, BC Rail trial, massive overuns on the convention centre, BC Place roof ... the list goes on and on. As my friends in the blogosphere point out, "Ooh look, something shiny!"

Can we all please sit up and pay attention? Finally??

well said!

also I`m encouraged after listening to ms. bacchus respond on blowhard bill goods liberal love in radio show, she explained the reality and gravity to the listening audience so coherently and honestly that campbells biggest fan bill was so taken aback he could`nt use his usual bullying with half truth tactics. i had to smile,

privatizing school boards AND

the Liberals will likely try to break the BCTF too and take us to an American model of education (and its such a bad model).

The Libs seem to be using the 1980s New Zealand political strategy of trying to change as much as possible as fast as possible. Gordon Campbell said in a Dec 08 Canwest interview, that his one big regret was that he didn't do more faster in his first term of government.

Nobody has voted for that. Privatizing education, bringing in HST, slashing public services, and having oil tankers off our coast was not part of the BC Liberals May 09 campaign platform.

We need a change of government, an honest and effective government that governs for all British Columbians and governs for the long term, not a government that only looks out for big business.

We gotta do recall this fall and we gotta do it well, no way we can wait until 2013. Its going to take years to undo the damage from the Liberals.

Liberals doing a fantastic job of destroying our society!

I have been reading a great book by George Lakoff:  "Don't Think of an Elephant". Really important for understanding how political discourse is framed. It also clears up any uncertainties some may have had around our so called BC "Liberal" Gov't. But more specifically it talks about school testing in the quote below:

Once the testing frame applies not just to students but also to schools, then schools can, metaphorically, fail—and be punished for failing by having their allowance cut. Less funding in turn makes it harder for the schools to improve, which leads to a cycle of failure and ultimately elimination for many public schools. What replaces the public school system is a voucher system to support private schools. The wealthy would have good schools—paid for in part by what used to be tax payments for public schools. The poor would not have the money for good schools. We would wind up with a two-tier school system, a good one for the “deserving rich” and a bad one for the “undeserving poor.”

Dysfunctional. Abolish

Park boards I can understand. Local funds for local projects. But educational funding comes from a single source. As well, the teachers union is managed from a single source. So why over 70 silo style school boards each with there own mindset?
Why not just one Big Board where all the backroom functions, payroll, HR, IT, etc. are handled for the entire group. There is zreo difference there between districts and zero need for duplication in every district. Each district could have reps, based on their size, who form part of the Big Board and could speak with a single voice, thereby applying more pressure on Victoria, if its warranted. And just to top it off I'd put this Big Board NOT in Victoria or Vancouver with their high costs, but locate it in a less well off area of the province where some well paying and stable government jobs would help the local economy, say the Kootenays.
Anybody with me?

Because schools are local happy

They serve and are part of community and community is more vital to the health of this society than ever before.

Hybridizing and consolidating schools boards and putting them all under the thumb of a central bureaucracy - all the while permitting independent school boards to run THEIR own local shows while the province picks up 50%+ of the tab is the sign of the fatally flawed dichotomy in the thinking of the current government.

Why would anyone give this government any more power than it has already - after 10 years of serial mismanagement and ever increasing indebtedness the spectacle of the province complaining about the deficits of local school boards is tantamount to suggesting that we should hire an arsonist to run the fire department.

The solution to school finding is simplicity itself: Repeal the Independent Schools Act and fund the public schools of this province with the money so saved.

Are hospitals not local?

Whats the difference? None that I can see. Didn't the NDP have issues also with the VSB? Its a broken record. Nothing will change until its made to. Next year same thing, gauranteed.
I have no problem wirh private schools paying their full fare, they should. But I don't believe for one second if that were to happen there would never be another "crisis" in educational system funding.
Why are administrative costs so much higher with the VSB as opposed to Surrey?

Look where health boards got us

Consolidating health boards and getting rid of locally elected governance on boards like Traslink has done nothing to "control costs" or improve accountability and has only made services less responsive to the needs of local communities.

School boards already realize efficiencies from sharing certain services and there is probably more they could do in that regard, while maintaining their ability to reflect local interests by deciding how to allocate available resources and acting to represent their communities' interests.

Happy, I'm Smiling Over Your Comments

We don't need 70+ school boards.
As I've said before, the school trustees who represent me are ineffective, concerned with personal matters and too comfortable in their positions (having served multiple terms).
They get re-elected because of a lazy, ill-informed electorate.
What's been lost in this is what's best for the students.
Get rid of the union and school trustees then good teachers won't lose their jobs due to more "senior" teachers and hopefully professional managers will implement sensible programs.

Huge difference

And, you haven't dealt with the problem that's at the real heart of the funding shortfall - namely, the diversion of tax funds to pay for playgrounds and schools for a small class of upper income elitists and religious fundamentalists.

That's the source of the problem - not the existence of local school boards to decide LOCAL issues and meet local needs.

the ministry's own documents

the ministry's own documents tell the real story here:

cost of PROVINCIALLY NEGOTIATED teacher's salary increase for the Vancouver school district: $5,468,787

Cost of all day kindergarten expansion for Vancouver school district: $2,643,877

Data found here:

http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/news/docs/2010/fs_LabourSettlementsFDK_100315.pdf

Increase in funding for Vancouver district to cover these and other costs: $511,983

That data here:

http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/news/docs/2010/fs_PreliminaryOperatingGrants_100315.pdf

enrolment decline: 108 students

So half a million and the loss of 100 students is supposed to cover over $8 mill just for these two costs?

Nevermind the fact that hydro and gas is going up, medicare premiums (which they are contracted to pay for staff) are going up and the province expects the board to buy carbon offsets as well.

The district's financial problems are a product of the province not paying for their commitments.

admin is probably slightly

admin is probably slightly higher than surrey because Surrey has a bigger total budget so even if VSB had the exact same number of admins - vancouver would have more on a percentage basis - which is what MacD is referring to when she compares the two boards

the problem is - there are "bulk" savings in admin like anything else - the more students you are administering the more savings and synergies that can be found (at least to a certain point)

So it really isn't a fair comparison.

I believe admin is around 3 per cent for Vancouver's budget - I bet you would have a hard time finding a corporation with that lean of a structure!

and ramona - since the NDP

and ramona - since the NDP amalgamated some boards in the 90s there are only 60 boards now, not 70+

and as others have noted re: health authorities

having a few big mega boards wouldn't increase accountability or reduce admin. Northern Health is a prime example:

http://www.northernhealth.ca/About/Financial_Accountability/documents/NorthernHealthServicePlan2008to2011.pdf

check out page 38

"corporate" spending is up from 68.476 million in 2006 to 96.815 million in 2010

That is a WHOPPING 14% of its 648.511 million 2010 budget spent on god knows what "corporate" is.

In 2006 it was just under 13% - so spending on "corporate" is increasing faster than increases in total expenditures - but are the Libs sending in someone to check on northern health's admin costs?

No - because the health authorities dutifully do the bidding of the Lieberals - and when people get mad - they do what their political masters expect - they take the flak instead of letting it hit their politico puppeteers...

meanwhile - northern health spends significantly more on corporate than residential care (73.845 million) mental health and addictions (49.358 million) and population health and wellness (43.807 million) - in fact the only line that gets more than "corporate" is acute care.