The Independents Working For You school board candidates are advocating for the Ministry of Education to present the draft of the new funding formula for review and consultation by school district stakeholders before its implementation in March 2019.
Current school board chair and candidate Laura Dixon describes with some frustration that the review was announced, limited consultations were held, and the new formula has been drafted; yet, there are no commitments from the Ministry to show boards of education and school district stakeholders the new plans.
“It did not bode well that the province said the scope of the funding formula review was limited to discussing only how funds were allocated and would not speak to whether current funding levels were sufficient,” Dixon said. “We wondered if this would be a repeat of the past when the Ministry sent some of Delta’s transportation funding away to school districts in other parts of the province.”
Dixon, who also serves as chair of the Metro region of Boards of Education for BC School Trustees Association, said this raised alarm bells with Lower Mainland trustees.
She initiated a motion from the Metro trustees’ body that asked the Ministry to ensure that no school districts would lose funding as a result of this review.
“The motion was passed by BCSTA members and yet no reassurances have been received from the Ministry, so we remain very concerned that this process could see funding shifting from region to region and create additional funding shortfalls.”
The Delta school board then took action on the issue of transparency and the quality of consultation for stakeholders.
“Our students, staff and families who may be affected by funding allocation changes deserve a voice in this process,” she said. “They deserve to see the draft formula and to be able to compare it to the current funding model to know if the proposed changes will be beneficial or not. Perhaps there are improvements that can be made in the formula, but it has to include sufficient funds and it has to be a transparent process that builds trust amongst all the education partners. We sent in a Delta motion through BCSTA to ask for the province to include in their process time for modelling the draft so there could further input but, to date, we have not received any reassurances that they will do so.”
Joe Muego, Delta’s District Parent Advisory Council Chair and fellow candidate attended a special Delta school board meeting on the topic of funding formula changes on behalf of parents.
“All of the stakeholders at the table found it difficult to give that input when no specifics were being offered by the Ministry,” he said. “In fact, we wouldn’t have had any opportunity to speak to this at the local level without the board’s initiative to call their own meeting even through the funding formula review is a provincial initiative. For many of us around the table, we reached the conclusion that how the funding pie is cut is of little consequence if there isn’t a big enough pie to begin with. Parents and other education partners deserve real agency in this process - our students are counting on us to get this right.”
Nick Kanakos, who serves as the BC Public Sectors Employees Association representative on behalf of the Delta school board, notes that the changes are slated to take place just before the 2019 bargaining cycle gets underway.
“It doesn’t make any sense that they would establish a new funding formula and not take into account that there could be items negotiated that increase costs or speak to how funds must be allocated,” said Kanakos. “We saw this occur with the recently restored class size and composition language and the Ministry had to act quickly add funding to catch up. It makes me ask: why embark on a wholesale review when the new formula could become out of step and cause shortfalls within the same year?
“Implementation is fast approaching so it will be necessary to elect trustees who are already out in front on this urgent matter. Our team’s core values are integrity, leadership, community and inclusiveness and we commit to do everything we can on behalf of Delta students and stakeholders to ensure adequacy of funding and a process that respects Delta’s needs.”
