This is my humorous way of saying that I would like to thank Kim Hancock for the following facts and sources to cite when someone, like a Minister of Education, says to you something outrageous such as “there’s nothing to be gained by perpetuating a myth that our public education system is underfunded and broken."
I did not do this research. I wanted to file it away on this page so I can retrieve it later, and because I love you, dear reader, I am making it available to you too.
I was SO lazy that I even borrowed the picture and the contents for the caption from a tumblr blog called Fix BC Ed which you should all go and visit after you are done getting outraged from reading the statistics below.
- BC falls behind in K-12 funding as a % of GDP
- Total expenditures in public elementary and secondary schools as a percentage of the GDP BC as a percentage of GDP 3.3% Canadian average 3.6%
- Source: Statistics Canada (2010)
- BC falls further behind Canada in per student funding (operating expenditures per FTE student)
- 2010-2011 ($988.00 below the national average)
- Source: Statistics Canada (2013)
- Most provinces hired more teachers
- BC lost 3.7% lowest in Canada – PEI hired the most 14.7%
- Source: Statistics Canada (2013)
- BC has the worst student–educator ratio in Canada
- BC average in 2011 16.8 students per teacher
- Canadian average 13.8 students per teacher
- Source: Statistics Canada (2010)
- If our BC funding met the national average we would have:
- - 6,600 more teachers in our classrooms this year
- - On average four more teachers per school
- - $568 million more in the education budget
- Since the contract strips of Christy Clark when she was Education Minister
- Loss of
- 286 librarians
- 120 counselors
- 770 special education teachers
- 342 English Language Learner Teachers
- 11 Aboriginal Education teachers
- Source: BC Ministry of Education Staff by Year and Program Code 2002, 2012
- Increase in classes with four or more designated student with special needs
- 2007 9,559
- 2012 12,651
- Source: BC Ministry of Education Overview of Class Size and Composition in BC Schools
- BC is last or next to last in Canada in the following key measures
- Operating expenditures 12th
- Operating expenditures per student 13th
- Total expenditures 12th
- Total expenditures per student 12th
- Total expenditures per capita 12th
- Source: Statistics Canada (2013)
- BC spends much less that the national average on our public school children:
- Between 2008 and 2012 Board Operating Expenditures on public schools increased by 13.8% in Canada and only 3.4% in BC – if funding in BC had been at the Canadian average there would be an additional $493 Million in education funding this year
- Source: Statistics Canada (2010)
- BC far behind expenditures of other Western Provinces
- Board operating Expenditures for public schools – increased 24.7% in Alberta, 22.1% in Saskatchewan, 15.7% in Manitoba and 3.4% in BC
- Source: Statistics Canada (2010)
- Education funding not keeping up with inflation
- According to the Conference Board of Canada BC caps education (K-12 and post secondary) spending increases to 0.6% per year between now and 2017 estimates BC needs to increase education spending by 2.7 % per year or 1.6 billion over three years to maintain inflation adjusted funding per student
- Source: Vancouver Sun August 7, 2014
- Downloaded costs are increasing what School Districts need to pay
- General inflation on supplies and services
- Increased Medical Services Premiums
- Increased BC Hydro Rates
- Unfunded salary increments for employees moving up on grid
- Increases to employer contributions for payroll benefits, health / dental benefits and employee pension plans
- 3.5% salary increase for support staff (2013-2014)
- Totalling 192.7 million in cost pressures in 2014-2015 (source: BC Association of School Business Officials)
- Source: Ministry of Education Estimates 2014-2015
- The public is saying to spend more on K-12 and post secondary and if necessary raise taxes to do so:
- What did the public say about increased funding to public education
- 71% chose to increase revenue through taxes
- 72% selected K-12 and post secondary education as a first priority
- Source: Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services
