Burnaby DPAC Media Release 2016-05-31website
May 31, 2016
Burnaby, BC – The Burnaby DPAC supports the BC Ministry of Education decision today to return $25 million in mandated administrative savings back to classrooms across the province.
“We hope that some of the funds redistributed to Burnaby will be used to address the issues and concerns that were brought forward by school representatives and parents during our district budget consultation process last month such as increasing counsellor time, more supports for special needs students, and increases to custodial hours to provide coverage for custodial absences”, says Jen Mezei, Burnaby DPAC Chair. “Unfortunately, the $25 million that is going back to our public education system is a small proportion of what has been cut provincially over the last five years”.
Underfunding was also an issue that was voiced at the BCCPAC AGM earlier this month, where provincial parents from across BC strongly supported a resolution for BCCPAC to advocate for the total amount of administrative savings to be returned to district operating budgets.
“Although we applaud the government’s latest efforts to restore cuts from public education, it will only bring temporary relief to the chronic underfunding of BC’s public schools”, says Kristin Schnider, DPAC Executive member. “A longer term funding strategy is needed to adequately meet the diverse learning needs of all students in BC.”
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