A mother of two and teacher of many and volunteer extraordinaire wrote this letter to the premier. Please people, whether you are taking sides or not, the thought of refusing school to kids this September is unacceptable at many levels. Write, tweet or email your MLA.
Dear Premier Clark, Minister Fassbender and Minister De Jong,
I was outraged to hear of your proposal of paying parents of school-aged children $40 per day should the strike proceed into the start of the school year. How dare you put your energies into strategies that plan to extend the strike when it is wholly your responsibility to negotiate a contract with the BCTF?
Your excuse for not meeting the demands of the union is that this is an uncertain economical reality and time for fiscal restraint. This logic is nonsensical. It begs the question, do you think your citizenry is ignorant of the facts?
The reality is that we can afford to fund public education
- You subsidized private education for $227 million last year.
- You have saved $178 million on the backs of teachers during the last weeks of the school year.
Obviously I could also list your disregard for the two court rulings on class composition and size as well as your reluctance to participate in mediation. Further, I could underscore the reality that BC teacher salary increases do not keep up with inflation which is one of the many ways that teachers are subsidizing the public education system. I could mention that Manitoba, a province less wealthy than BC, gave its teachers 9.32% over four years in their contract this year.
But I digress, the key issue is that there is no question that as a province we can afford to fund a healthy public education system. So this leads to the question who is it that has given you a mandate to promote the privatization of education?
Thomas Jefferson wrote “When people fear their government, it is tyranny, when government fear it’s people, it is liberty”. You are my government representing the values of the society of which I am a citizen. It is time for your to remember to fear your people and represent the priorities of your citizens.
To conclude, my questions are as follows…
- How dare you put your energies into strategies
that plan to extend the strike when it is wholly your responsibility to negotiate a contract with the BCTF? - Do you think your citizenry is ignorant of the facts?
- Who is it that has given you a mandate to promote the privatization of education?
I look forward to you developing dedication to public education and to resolving this conflict, to date your performance is unacceptable.
Well said, these questions need to be answered. Why is there so much money for private education? Why is CC so disinterested in public
Opinion, does she really believe that she has that much appeal?
CC is so arrogant and sure of herself that she actually made a joke
About teachers not being able to locate her. Shame upon shame!
On private education, I have one significant question: is public funding going to for profit educational institutions? For example, I volunteered for a Montessori age 3-6 school, which receives some funding for Kindergarten kids. But, it is a registered non-for-profit society filling a niche. It does wonderful work. Were public funding pulled, the place would have serious problems staying in one piece. From what I gather, the public system does not have the capacity at this time to handle in influx of kids this would cause. I would really like answers on this from knowledgeable people. The discussion needs to be had.
Great letter, I too would like to hear the answers to these questions.
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