Minister of Education Margaret MacDiarmid today issued a directive to the Vancouver School Board, ordering it to submit, by June 18, a balanced budget that "takes full consideration" of the Comptroller General's report and recommendations. Read more…

At rates of $30 or less, affordable transit passes will soon be available to many more post-secondary students across the province. Read more…

A closed door meeting between Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid and Vancouver School Board trustees abruptly ended on Tuesday over disagreements about education dollars. Read more…

A blog called B.C. Education Coalition has published a detailed rebuttal of the Comptroller General’s report on the Vancouver School Board. Read more…

The Comptroller General’s report on the Vancouver School Board was “a missed opportunity,” according to Irene Lanzinger, president of the B.C. Teachers’ Federation. Read more…

A provincially appointed special advisor has published her Report on the Vancouver School Board. It is deeply critical on the board on grounds ranging from ethical lapses to sheer incompetence. Read more…

British Columbians are much more likely to find work this decade behind a cash register than they are handling a chainsaw or working in the arts, according to a new provincial labour market guide. Read more…

The provincial government plans to take bids for part of the work the Therapeutics Initiative now does, but will continue funding the rest of the drug research group’s work, health minister Kevin Falcon said. Read more…

Minister of Education Margaret MacDiarmid today introduced a new system for school districts’ payroll and business administration, with four districts chosen “to provide early leadership.” The B.C. Teachers’ Federation dismissed the new step as “just another diversion.” Read more…

A Girl Guides camp on the Sunshine Coast won’t have to pay the hefty tax bill that caught operators by surprise and threatened to silence the singing around campfires this summer. Read more…

Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid today announced the appointment of Don Avison as a "fact finder" to look into reported problems in the B.C. College of Teachers. Read more…

Proposed legislation that would allow boards to install surveillance cameras in schools lacks guidelines for protecting privacy rights, say opponents. Read more…

More than 70 per cent of B.C. residents underestimate how many of the province's children enter school developmentally vulnerable, an Angus Reid poll released today shows. And most of those polled expressed strong support for increased public spending once they learned how many B.C. children are at risk and how low Canadian investment in early childhood education and daycare is in contrast to other wealthy countries. Read more…

As trustees announce school cuts across the province, various stakeholder groups are protesting and calling for improved school funding. Read more…

Education minister Margaret MacDiarmid today appointed a special advisor to review the Vancouver school board's finances.

“The Vancouver board of education is either unable or unwilling to manage its resources to protect the interests of students, and we are interpreting this as an indication this board needs extra help,” MacDiarmid said in a press release. Read more…

British Columbia's teacher-librarians were among the first groups to protest school board budget cuts in Vancouver and Coquitlam. Read more…

The Vancouver School Board is warning parents about impending cuts to its budget, which could mean a shorter school year, faculty and staff layoffs, and cuts to ESL and special education. Other districts face similar reductions. Read more…

While the B.C. Liberals are bragging about “record high” school funding, the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation is calling it a “shell game, smoke and mirrors, and bad political spin.” Read more…

In a move similar to other financial crises dating back to the mid-1980s, the trustees of School District 27 (Cariboo-Chilcotin) have voted 4-3 for a budget that would break provincial law by running a deficit. Read more…

Average class sizes may be smaller, but a recent government report ignores the fact that teachers are also dealing with more special needs students, says the president of the Central Okanagan Teachers' Association. Read more…