Minister of Education George Abbott says school boards shouldn't act so surprised about being told to pay for their own property loss insurance premiums—they've known about the decision for over a year.

"Ministry staff have been communicating these changes to district staff for more than a year now and made the decision to bring the property loss program in line with the liability insurance program following discussions with the BC Association of School Business Officials and its members," Abbott says in an emailed statement to The Tyee.

"The Ministry of Education is asking school districts to pay their own insurance premiums to cover damage claims to property, just as districts have historically paid their own premiums for the annual liability insurance coverage provided by Government."

Yesterday the Hook reported school districts were not informed of the decision until Friday, May 13—an assertion backed up by Ken Denike, a Non-Partisan Association member of the Vancouver School Board (VSB).

"The letter looked like it was (dated) Wednesday, but we never really heard about it until Friday," he told The Tyee.

Abbott says the amount each district will have to pay is small, calling the $291,285.27 Vancouver will have a to pay a "fraction" of their budget. But Denike says because the announcement has come after their VSB's budget has been submitted, the costs are probably going to have to come out of their operational budget and will likely affect educational programming and employment numbers.

The $291,285.27 doesn't take into account the losses under $10,000 the boards will now be responsible for covering, or that damages over $250,000 will go through the capital process and may not result in any repairs, either.

"Most of our claims look as though they're between $3,000 and $10,000, so the ministry is sort of wiping their hands of that directly," says Denike.

"I think they now have something over about $250,000 it goes through their capital process, which means if there's a fire, we don't necessarily get that building repaired if it's, for example, not required in terms of the amount of space that's available in that or adjacent schools."

One of the buildings in Sir Guy Carleton Elementary complex was damaged by fire in 2008, but Denike says the ministry opted not to fund the repairs because it was determined the programs offered in the damaged building could fit into the other school facilities. The VSB is currently working with a non-profit organization in order to raise funds to repair the building.

In his statement Abbott rebuffed the press release the Vision Vancouver trustees released on Sunday, calling it "politically motivated" and not the opinion of the entire board.

Denike agrees the release was politically motivated, saying it was "insensitive" of board chair Patti Bacchus to see this as a moment for partisanship advocacy rather than unity with the board, but he doesn't disagree with the sentiment of the release.

"I don't disagree that this is something George Abbott should be looking at," he says.