There's no way they can pass the buck on this one.
The B.C. Supreme Court ruling last month that requires class size limits, among other classroom issues, to be restored to 2002 levels has to be considered a step forward for education but also comes with a hefty price tag, one the provincial government has pegged at around $1 billion.
It's obvious that hiring hundreds and hundreds of teachers as well as other support staff will be prohibitively expensive, even if Victoria has overstated the costs for dramatic effect, but what's not clear is who will ultimately pick up the tab.
It would seem logical for the province to do so given it controls the funding for B.C.'s public education system, to say nothing of the fact it created this situation in the first place, however the language being used these days suggests that might not be the case.
In court documents filed in response to the ruling, Victoria refers to the "financial harm" that would be inflicted on B.C.'s 60 school districts by returning to 2002 levels. There's no doubt such a move comes with significant cost, but it would only do harm to school districts if the additional burden wasn't covered by the province and they had to find funding from within.
Chopping all kinds of services in order to free up money to reduce class sizes would undoubtedly cause great hardship to the point where you'd have to wonder if the whole exercise wasn't a step backwards.
In Delta's case, district officials have ballparked the cost of implementing the court ruling at $3.4 million. Can you imagine the impact cutting that kind of money from the budget would have on this district's day-to-day operations? It wouldn't be pretty, that's for sure.
I'm not suggesting the court ruling was wrong or that class sizes shouldn't be lowered, but to do it on the backs of cash-strapped school districts is absolutely ludicrous. The Delta board, like many others, has been hacking and slashing for more than a decade, so if there's anything left to cut, and I'm dubious there is, I'm certain it's nowhere near the $3.4 million that's required.
The provincial government has long used school boards and health authorities as human shields, allowing them to take the flak when funding levels don't meet public expectations. This time around, however, that approach isn't going to cut it.
There's nothing left for Victoria to do but buck up in order to comply with what the courts have decided.
