I found this wonderful post by someone named Dawn Steele in the blog Public Eye online in response to a document that was posted on this site that discusses how senior government managers should create fake crises to bring about change.
I don't know about railways or healthcare, but the strategy of manufacturing a fake crisis has certainly been evident in Education.
The province keeps telling us they're spending more on Education than ever despite declining enrolment & that costs are out of control. A Special Adviser was appointed, prompting hysterical headlines about VSB mismanagement, until weeks later the Minister quietly accepted the VSB's claim of $17 million in provincial underfunding was actually legit. A week ago, the Minister hinted again at a need for drastic change because student outcomes are flat or declining.
I've been gathering research & data on education funding at the BC Education Coalition Website: http://stopeducationcuts.org
The data (including the Ministry's own data) don't support a crisis of out-of-control spending - on the contrary they suggest underfunding is increasingly straining the ability of public schools to meet even basic student needs:
1) In real dollars, the $5.1 billion Education budget for 2010-11 is actually $500 million less than the last NDP Education budget in 2000-01, after adjusting for inflation (that stat originally cited by the Vancouver Sun's Don Cayo & I fact-checked it).
2) In 1991, Education represented 26% of the provincial budget vs 14% today.
3) Relative to provincial GDP, BC's Education spending has declined by 14% since 2001.
4) After a decade of VERY modest declines (avg 0.5% per year), K-12 public school enrolment is now growing again. And provincial projections call for continued growth as far out as they look.
5) BC now has the second-highest student/educator ratio (a Stats Can proxy for average class size) in all of Canada.
6) BC has cut special education grants to public schools by $120 million since 2001, while the number of students with special needs has increased. Despite deep cuts, boards now face $350 million a year in unfunded special ed costs - a gap that's grown from $50 million in 2001-02.
7) Ontario spends $10,000 per student vs BC's $8,000. McGuinty has increased Education spending by more than $5 billion (more than BC spends in all) since taking office, because they see a highly-educated populace as a key pillar to building future competitiveness and prosperity. Our Education Minister talks about our schools needing to offer more opportunities in the culinary arts and house-building.
Meanwhile, to find evidence of out-of-control spending, there is no need to manufacture fake crises - just look at the capital side of the BC budget, which most pundits routinely ignore. Or the extra $6 billion that former Finance Minister Carole Taylor paid to buy labour peace for the Olympics. Or the MLA, Minister & mandarin pay hikes...
I AM A SONIC BOOMER, NOT A SENIOR... In this blog, I am writing to and for those who believe that the Boomers will change what the word Senior means. I also believe that Boomers will change what retirement means in our society. The blog is also for those who are interested in what life after retirement may look like for them. In this blog, I highlight and write about issues that I believe to be important both for Seniors and working Boomers.
Showing posts with label funding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label funding. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
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