A coalition of south Vancouver Island teachers, student union representatives, early childhood educators, and public employee unions are holding a public forum April 2 at the University of Victoria to discuss what they call a "crisis" in British Columbia's public education system.

"We're looking at underfunding through early childhood right through to the university level," says Catherine Alpha, Sooke Teachers' Association representative for United for Public Education, the group holding the forum.

"The students at the university level have had a 300 per cent increase in their tuition costs, which means that when they're leaving school they're facing a debt load which is intense. We still don't have universal early childhood program that's fully funded, that's universal, that is regulated. And in the K-12, we've looked at just incredible cuts to the services for children with special needs to large class size and composition, with high numbers of children with special needs in classrooms with no support, and all of that is funding issues that we need to be addressing."

The B.C. government denies there is a crisis, however. Ministry of Advanced Education admits tuition has risen since the Liberal government came to power in 2001, but increases have been limited to two per cent per year since 2005.

"The actual increase has been significantly less (than 300 per cent). The fact is, students in B.C. currently pay less than one-third of the actual cost of a post-secondary education, and the government is committed to keeping the costs affordable for both students and taxpayers," Minister of Advanced Education Naomi Yamamoto told The Tyee in an emailed statement.

As for K-12 funding, the Ministry of Education maintains their government has overseen the highest funding ever for education in this province.

The Public Education In Crisis Forum will address these government assertions and other issues with talks by representatives from the Greater Victoria Teachers Association, Camosun College Early Learning and Care program, Camosun College Students' Society, and Let's Agree Not to Dispose of Schools (LANDS), a group that lobbies for keeping public property like schools and green spaces from being sold. Presentations will be followed by group discussions that Alpha hopes will be accumulated into a white paper that will be presented to government and the media in the near future.

"We're really committed and we really welcome any member of the public who would like to attend the forum, there's no charge," says Alpha.

The Public Education Forum takes place Saturday, April 2, 1-4 p.m. in the Michele Pujol Room, Student Union Building, University of Victoria.

Katie Hyslop reports on education for the Tyee Solutions Society, and is a freelance reporter for a number of other outlets including The Tyee.