COPE & Vision trustees keep budgetary emphasis on supporting students and teachers in classrooms

    - But needs still unmet because of Liberal Government underfunding

    VANCOUVER, May 1 /CNW/ - Vancouver's Board of Education trustees approved
two 2009/10 operating budgets Thursday evening - a "compliance" budget
containing $7.12 million in spending reductions, and a "needs" budget
outlining what the board believes it needs to meet the district's needs.
    "No one is pretending that the situation isn't dire," states Glen
Hansman, President of the Vancouver Elementary School Teachers' Association.
"There is no pot of gold at the district level to restore all the services to
students that have been cut over the past decade. Funding from the Ministry of
Education has not kept up with inflation or the real costs of running a school
district."
    As they approved their compliance budget last night, all the COPE and
Vision trustees spoke about the importance of maintaining front-line service
to students at the school level, and also about the importance that May 12
will make for the future of public education in Vancouver. VESTA absolutely
concurs.
    "Gordon Campbell and Shirley Bond continue to brag about their
'record-high' funding to school districts," Glen Hansman says, "but their
record is nothing to brag about. Their failure to keep up with inflation,
their failure to fund contracts, and failure to fund pet projects is starving
our public schools and failing our kids."
    "Vancouver schools will not be able to stand another 4 years under a BC
Liberal government," he concludes. "Teachers, parents, and the entire
Vancouver school community need to push as hard as possible over the next week
and a half to make a change at the provincial level."

For further information:

For further information: Glen Hansman, President of the Vancouver
Elementary School Teachers' Association at (604) 873-8378 or (604) 813-5318
(cell) or glen@vesta.ca