Where your Childs School Funding REALLY GOES in BC

Image Source - Education Bureaucracy "Of all the public bureaucratic systems, education is perhaps the most puzzling. Provincial authorities and school boards all purport to put “children first"!"

By Russ Walsh,

Bradner BC - Given the uproar caused by Abbotsford School District's ill-advised, seemingly unilateral decision to tear the upper grades from Bradner Elementary and five (5) others (Mt Lehman, Aberdeen, Ross, Barrowtown & Upper Sumas) and transplant them to a distant, foreign school across town, called a 'Middle School', not of parents' choosing, it's time to uncover the flaw inherent in the current school system that allows travesties such as this to occur in the first place. Take this time to read on and find out for yourself  what your child's school funding from the government actually gets spent on... it's shocking.

​There are three (3) school systems in British Columbia. The 'public' system, the independent system and the home school program. There are currently 2,100 home school students in BC.... 

​Two of my grandchildren are in the homeschool program. A report called Home Schooling in Canada: The CURRENT  PICTURE – 2015 EDITION released says that between 2007 and 2012, enrolment in Canadian home schools went up by 29%. For the same period,

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enrolments in public schools declined by 2.5%. There are currently about 80,000 students enrolled in BC's independent school system and independent schools have seen huge increases in enrolment in the past few years. In Vancouver, independent school enrolment increased by 4.25%, in Northern and Central BC, it increased by 12%. In the Okanagan and Kootenay regions, independent school enrolment is up by 31%. In the Lower Fraser Valley, independent school enrolment has increased by 8%. And on Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast, independent school enrolment increased by 5%. This, at a time when public school enrolment has declined 2.5%, or 70,000 students.

All schools – public, independent, or home school, must adhere to the same government mandated curriculum and teacher training standards. So we are comparing apples to apples here. The big difference between the three school systems is in the efficiency of their operations as well as the philosophy each represents. Public schools lately have begun to do a number of things abhorrent to parents such as allowing boys who profess to 'feel' that they are really girls to use girls' changing rooms and toilets. The banning of the Bible. Parents may indeed want their children to be introduced to broad concepts, lifestyles, ideas and ideologies. So with matters of such profound importance to a child's future health, well-being and possibly even survival, parents have a choice with respect to the values their children are taught on a day-to-day basis. 

The public system is operated on a 'school district' basis. Abbotsford School District is one of 60 such public school districts in the Province. The BC government pays school districts $7,158, $9,500, $18,850, and $37,700 for each FTE, or full-time equivalent student enrolled. These four different numbers reflect the category of students enrolled. Regular students, Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 students, respectively. These 'Levels' reflect varying degrees of special needs and handicaps. School districts receive 100% of these funds from the government for public schools. Private schools are only given a maximum of 50% of that by the BC Government. And some private schools receive nothing at all. Unlike our neighbour, the Province of Alberta, whose government gives equally - their private schools receive the same funding as their public schools.

Bradner Elementary's estimated total government funding is $1,559,105. I say 'estimated' because at the time of writing this article I was unable to obtain the specific school's Levels 1 – 3 enrolment numbers. So I used numbers typical of elementary schools. For public schools the government pays 100% of the capital cost of building the schools in the first place. For independent schools they pay 0%. 

If Bradner Elementary were a private school it would receive a maximum of $1,559,105 divided by 2 = $779,500. Parents of private school students are expected to make up the missing 50%. Is this a penalty for school choice?

At this point, philosophy intrudes. The central planning model versus the freedom of choice. My objective in writing this article is not to praise or condemn either model but rather to present the facts and examine what would be possible were there not a centralist stranglehold on the delivery of education in BC. It is up to the reader to determine which model would serve them best. There are those who adhere strongly to the central planning model and they raise a terrible fuss whenever that model is threatened with competition. Or even talked about. Others relish competition and feel that parents should be able to select educational services much as they choose where to shop for groceries. Applying the current BC schools model to shopping there would be just one store in Abbotsford that sold things, with various branches of that one store scattered throughout the community. But the prices would all be the same and so would the merchandise.

Let's step outside BC for a moment and take a look at how others are handling the centralist versus competitive issue. In Canada, just one province – Alberta – allows schools to operate independently and receive full funding. Parents or others wishing to operate a school apply to the government for a 'charter.' If they meet the requirements they are given a charter. Charter schools are self-governing, generally by the parents themselves or a volunteer board elected by the parents to oversee the school's operation. And by the school's staff. All decisions pertaining to the school's operation are made on-site. Often, these charter schools offer a particular emphasis. Athletics, academics, dramatic arts or practical skills training. Parents are then free to select the school which best meets their childrens' aspirations.

Teachers themselves are also instrumental in establishing charter schools. The key here is that parents get to choose which school they wish to enrol their children in. Just as we shop these days. Under the charter system parents examine the success rate of the various schools and enrol their children accordingly. BC's Fraser Institute publishes an annual ranking of all schools in the Province. Independent schools are usually way ahead of public ones, much to the chagrin of the public school establishment. The government pays a charter school directly for each student it enrols. And it pays at the 100%, so parents do not need to 'kick in' the missing 50% as they currently do with BC's private school system.

So what about the success rate of charter schools? How have parents responded to the opportunity for choice in education? At the Foundations for the Future Charter Academy in Alberta 3,300 are students enrolled in classes – but they have a waiting list of 9,300 children. Currently, there are about 9,000 children enrolled in charter schools across Alberta but the demand greatly exceeds capacity.

Alberta is the only province with legislation making charter schools a publicly funded school alternative. One Alberta charter school reports that “Our kindergarten for 2019 was filled some months ago.” Read that last bit again! That's right. The year is 2019. The kindergarten for 2019 was fully booked as of August 2015! They're taking bookings for 2020 and beyond!

In the US, the number of charter schools has grown from an initial 500 in 16 states and the District of Columbia to an estimated 6,400 in 2013-14. Over 600 new public charter schools (A 7% annual rate of increase) opened in 2015, serving a total of 2.5 million students.

So let's take a step back and look at the recent Middle School debacle. And what if Bradner Elementary were operated as a Charter School.

At the moment Bradner Elementary's annual FTE grants are $1.6 million. But that money doesn't go to Bradner Elementary. It goes to the Abbotsford School Board which then syphons off funds needed by 'the district', reducing Bradner Elementary's net to about $1,040,000. Just under $.6 million is left at the Abbotsford School Board Office to pay for its staff and operations - just from ONE out of 46 schools in the Abbotsford School District. So assume... $.6 x 46 = $27.6 million (the number is MUCH higher of course - Bradner school has about 160 children, inner city schools have higher capacity and enrolment). This is a classic illustration of the inefficiency of the current public school model.

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If Bradner Elementary was a Charter School...

For demonstration purposes, let's look at what Bradner Elementary's cashflow could look like if it operated on the charter school model. If you examine the following example budget, you'll see that for no additional money from the government Bradner Elementary could offer high class service that would include things like a free lunch program, a $1,000 annual discretionary fund for each teacher, an education assistant, EA (formerly known as Teacher Assistant, TA) in each classroom, a $600 annual field trip fund for each classroom, $7,500 a year for upgrading computers and software AND a $100,000 annual budget surplus.

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Bradner Elementary School
Annual Budget – Charter Model

The following budget is based on the current Ministry of Education's FTE (Full Time Equivalent) grant of $7,158 per student, plus higher grants for Levels 1, 2 and 3 students.

Gross Annual Income - FTE Grants

135 regular students @ $7,158 .................................... $955,655
5 level 1 headcount students @ $37,700 ..................... $188,500
7 level 2 headcount students @ $18,850 ..................... $131,950
14 level 3 headcount students @ $9,500 ..................... $133,000
Rural school allowance ............................................... $150,000

Total FTE grant income .............................................. $1,559,105

Basic Expenses

Teacher & principal salaries – 14 @ $60,000............... $840,000
Secretarial salary............................................................ $35,000
Janitorial @ 5 hours/day @ $22/hr................................ $17,600
Employee benefits @ 20% of salaries........................... $73,600
Building repair and maintenance................................... $10,000
Telephone expense – 4 VOIP @ $10/month.................. $480
Internet service @ $110/month...................................... $13,200
Liability insurance.........................................................  $11,000
Heat and electrical utilities............................................  $14,000
Grounds maintenance and snow removal....................... $5,000
Water utility.................................................................... $5,000
Sewer system maintenance............................................ $2,500
Printing paper................................................................. $3,500
Office equipment maintenance...................................... $4,000
Annual office computer upgrading................................ $1,500
Classroom computer upgrading..................................... $5,000
Miscellaneous office supplies........................................ $5,000 
Bus services – unfunded portion.................................... $2,000
Computer software acquisition...................................... $1,000
Sports and PE equipment replacement.......................... $2,000
Cablevision service @ $100/month............................... $1,200
Annual AV equipment renewal...................................... $5,000
Teacher discretionary fund @ $1,000 per teacher......... $14,000
Field trip budget @ $600 per classroom....................... $8,400
Annual new texts and materials.................................... $3,000

Total Basic Expenses ......................................................... $1,009,880

Balance after Basic Expenses ............................................ $549,225

Discretionary Expenses

Teacher aids – 7 @ $20/hr.................................................. $252,000
School lunch program @ $6/student.................................. $ 190,302

Balance after Discretionary Expenses ............................... $106,925

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One has to question the rational behind the decision to hive off students from rural schools such as Bradner, busing them across town twice a day, thereby significantly lengthening students' school day, placing those students in areas of the district with demographic compositions entirely foreign to the community of Bradner. Current poll numbers show that 96% of Bradner parents are opposed to this concept. Ultimately one has to question where the democracy is in this equation. Simply put, there isn't any democracy. Unless School District 34 offers the Bradner community a referendum on the notion of slicing students from Bradner and depositing them in some distant Middle School. This is a very subtle form of dictatorship.

Since the decision to parse off Bradner Elementary's 2 upper grades exemplifies the lack of democratic process involved in the move, let's broaden our view for a moment and consider what remedy would be possible in another jurisdiction.

My youngest daughter recently got married in Switzerland to a commercial pilot who emigrated to Canada and who now flies commercially here. About every couple of months a formal looking envelope from the Swiss government shows up at our Bradner farm addressed to my son-in-law. After passing a number of these mysterious envelopes along to him I asked him what they were. He replied, “Referendum ballots”.He explained that Swiss citizens get to vote and directly create law over a stunningly wide range of issues. Here are a few examples of issues decided directly by Swiss citizens:

1. 1. Abortion
   2. Against Mass Immigration
   3. Restrictions on Paedophiles
   4. Minimum wage
   5. Immigration cap
   6. Flat tax abolition
   7. Six weeks of vacation
   8. Smoking ban
   9. Secure housing
   10. Music lessons
   11. Abolition of compulsory military service
   12. Tax credits for stay at home parents
   13. 6,000 Frank ($10,000 CDN) fine for wearing a burkah in public.

This is the Initiative, Referenda, and Recall system, or IRR system. Surprisingly, BC actually has the IRR system. It was used a while ago to repeal the HST program. The IRR system was one of the Reform Party's primary platforms in the 1990's. While the concept of upgrading Canada's 19th century political system was eventually quite well accepted in Western Canada, Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes strenuously, and I must say rather viciously, opposed whatsoever any change to the country's status-quo and so the opportunity to give voters the same democratic rights as the Swiss was lost. Except in BC.... more on this exciting news in an upcoming Barker article - Stay Tuned! 

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The Bureaucracy 

The BC public school system is a massive, costly, highly inefficient bureaucracy very much devoid of initiative, creativity or the ability to respond quickly to new innovations. It is a cumbersome system layered heavily at the top with over-qualified academics whose demonstration of practical skills and abilities seems inversely proportional to the number of Masters degrees they posses and whose primary task is to pester and provoke the one segment of the system that does work reasonably well under difficult circumstances – the teachers. It is an introverted system virtually impervious to new developments. In many ways the public school system resembles a headless monster. It truly does not know what it is doing, lurching about from one failed initiative to another. Without the many good, front-line teachers in place to provide at least some buffer to the bureaucracy’s periodic eruptions, our children would suffer mightily. Flaky ideas rain down from above. Ideas such as the decision to remove textbooks from classrooms. Try teaching an entire class of Chemistry 11 students without any textbooks! Then 'new math' showed up – several times in fact, during my teaching career - and even the teachers were confused. What? Pythagoras has recalled his theorem? Was his original version wrong, somehow? Then they targeted reports cards. The bureaucracy replaced what was originally a good system consisting, literally, of a 'report card' showing letter grades, work habits, with a few brief comments added, with what can best be described as a full on psychometric report that nobody can understand, that nobody has the time to read, and that causes teacher leave to skyrocket at report card time.

Why not broaden the mandates of existing schools such as Bradner? Open them up to the delivery of such things as much needed daycare. Use them as group meeting centers for home school and ESL school students. My two home-schooled grandchildren regularly use the facilities of a Chilliwack independent school for all kinds of group interaction projects. The dramatic advances in technology have in many ways rendered the old 'stand and deliver' teaching method obsolete.

In 1988, returning to teaching after building and operating my own cablevision system – Pioneer CATV, Agassiz-Harrison – a system now owned by Shaw, I founded the Langley Education Center for Langley School District. LEC provided grades 10-12 courses to students in an open ended fashion. Enrol at any time of the year. Move through the course as quickly – or as slowly as you wish. Year-round operation. We started with a print foundation using the Department of Education's Correspondence Courses but now technology has provided far superior, electronic, interactive courses instead. The Langley Education Center continues to operate to this day, located in separate buildings on the grounds of Langley Secondary School on 56th Avenue.

All schools like Bradner Elementary need to grow, flourish, keep their existing student population base and expand to full, viable operations again - Is this simply imagination, inspiration, common sense and creative intelligence? These are attributes in question are sadly lacking in the over-stuffed, over-qualified public school bureaucracy.

Until fundamental changes are made, changes that that empower parents to make the same choices in education as they do when they go shopping for any other goods or services, problems such as the hiving off of 2 ENTIRE grades from a school, together with the splitting of family groups, the destruction of Bradner's historic hand bells choir, and the trauma of transporting students to some foreign school way across town, parents will be repeatedly forced to endure these periodic dramas. And children's nightmares will likely continue from the stress, instability and threatened community disbursement, like our household is now experiencing thanks to this insensitive bureaucratic decision.

Please HELP...

Join the Facebook group Save our K-7 Schools.

SIGN the ONLINE PETITION 

Please send LETTERS from yourselves, businesses or whomever from all of the communities affected! (the more letters the better) contact info below and spread the word about the meetings, POST SIGNS, lets get all demographics there from the all communities attending - the MEETINGS are:

Tuesday, January 19th, 7pm at Upper Sumas Elementary 
Thursday, January 21st, 7pm at Mt. Lehman Elementary
Tuesday, January 26th, 7pm at Aberdeen Elementary

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2016, consideration (Board decision) of the reconfiguration at their regular meeting at the DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION/SCHOOL BOARD OFFICE - 2790 Tims St, Abbotsford, BC V2T 4M7

​Please send all correspondence and letters to: 

Phil Anderson, [email protected]
Freddy Latham, [email protected]
Rhonda Pauls, [email protected] OR [email protected]
Stan Petersen, [email protected]
Preet Rai, [email protected]
Cindy Schafer, [email protected]
Shirley Wilson, [email protected]
Kevin Godden, Superintendent, [email protected]
Trustee, Kevin Godden, Superintendent’s assistant: [email protected]
Abbotsford School District Contacts can be found here.

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Thank-you in advance for your support! ​

Bradner Students grow famous Bradner daffodils - Image Source - Bradner Elementary School Newsletter, published online

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About the Author - John Walsh has been a Bradner resident since the 1970's. He is a blueberry farmer, former teacher, Candidate for the BC Reform Party and entrepreneur - cablevision owner (Pioneer Cablevision – Agassiz, Harrison Hot Springs) satellite television pioneer, radio studio owner (Pat Burns Hotline). His father, John Walsh, was the former Superintendent of Policy and Legislation as well as Assistant Deputy Minister of Education for the BC Government.

All four of John Russell Walsh's children attended Bradner Elementary, and he currently has three Grandchildren attending Bradner Elementary, the oldest is in Grade 5 - and is being slated by the Abbotsford's 'Long Term Facility Plan', to enter Middle School in September 2016, forcing his daughter, to choose between the rural community school and the withdraw of her three children to a neighbouring School District along with many many other families from six schools - Bradner, Mt Lehman, Ross, Aberdeen, Barrowtown and Upper Sumas Elementary's.