“Is there really NO class size limits anymore?”

In an opinion piece, “A Letter To B.C. Parents, From A StrikingTeacher” posted to the Huffington Post on Sunday June 30^th, a teacher states:

"Dear parents, I believe that my employer shouldn't be able to load up my classroom without limits and expect that I'm going to provide a good service for your child. It's just not... humanly possible."

As I read that, I said to myself, “Is there really NO class size limits anymore?”

 

Now for those who aren't aware, I am in my late 50's, and so I remember classes when I went to school, when there were 30 to 32 students in a classroom ... and just one teacher, no assistants. Even with that many kids in the classroom, I honestly don't recall there being an issue with the teachers having the ability to spend time with us, nor for us to learn.

 

So back to the letter; would you agree it appears that the teacher is implying there are now no limit to class sizes?

 

Well nothing can be further from the truth as BC Teachers Federation President Jim Iker himself stated on January 27th of this year, in the Vancouver Sun ... and I quote;
" ... in 2002, kindergarten class sizes were capped at 20 students, while Grades 1 to 3 were capped at 22. Today, those limits are 22 and 24, so each primary class will have to go down by two students. In 2002, class sizes for Grades 4 to 12 were negotiated by each school district ... " 

 

As to the question of whether or not we need more teachers, well that same story in the Vancouver Sun went on to say:
"The total number of students in the province has also changed since 2002 ... this year, there are 558,985 students attending public schools in B.C. In 2002, there were 621,200 students." 

 

I guess my point in all of this is ... I wish the BCTF, and 'some' of its' members, would just stick to the facts, and not make them up as they go. 

 

Furthermore to that teacher, who ends her letter to BC parents with the following:

“Dear parents, this strike has put your family (and mine) through the wringer -- I get that -- but somehow you are still with us in support. I acknowledge your sacrifices and inconveniences... I honk for you!” 

I want you to know that 'Yes' this strike is putting parents of school age children through the wringer ... 'Yes' I appreciate the work you put in teaching our children ... but 'No', I don't support your demands ... and finally, don't bother with the symbolic honking of the horn to me; it's just going to make me more annoyed at this whole situation.

The sad fact is that this action by the BCTF will impact everyone involved ... teachers, administration, support staff, parents, and especially students ... and the younger they are, the more trauma they will suffer.

The longer this goes on, there will be more negativity felt towards teachers. In fact, I believe the actions of the BCTF will have long-term negative results which will last for many many years. 

I'm Alan Forseth in Kamloops, with the thoughts of one conservative.

A poisoned atmosphere, created on both sides of the bargaining table, is not going to lead to our children being the number one concern

John Rustad is the BC Liberal MLA for Nechako Lake, and he makes good use of social media to find out what people are thinking, and asking for their thoughts. 

A post he made the other day on Facebook caught my attention; this is what he asked:

"Many teachers volunteer for extracurricular activities making an enormous difference in student's lives. Here's the interesting question: if it's voluntary, why does the union have the ability to intimidate and force teachers to not participate? If it's not voluntary, then should it be classified as an illegal strike?"

I often will post comments to the queries and so I replied to him with the following:

I do not mean to be critical, but as I understand it, teachers have a pay scale for the roughly 200 days a year that they work.

Taking their pay over those 200 days, they make far more than most workers in the province. As I understand it, that pay also takes into account a day that is longer than regular classroom time (ie: prep), and I think it’s fair to say it would also cover some time outside the classroom for student activities.

The BCTF themselves have said the average maximum salary for a teacher is $74,353 ... based on 200 days, that works out to over $370 a day.

Oh, and by the way … I am still waiting for a reply from Kevin Krueger on this

Based in Victoria, Tom Fletcher is the legislative reporter, and columnist, for newspapers published across the province by Black Press.

Yesterday (May 2, 2012) he wrote a story, “BC Liberals try election gag law again”, which I posted on my Facebook page.  The story, which follows, was posted by me without comment as information for others:

Should donations to BC's political parties, from
unions and corporations, be banned?   YES!

The B.C. government is attempting to restore limits on third-party election spending that were struck down by a judge before the 2009 vote.

Attorney General Shirley Bond has introduced amendments that would put limits on spending by unions, business groups and other non-party advertisers in the 40 days before the official start of an election campaign. A previous 60-day limit was challenged by seven public sector unions, led by the B.C. Teachers' Federation, and rejected by a B.C. Supreme Court judge as an unjustified restriction on freedom of speech.

Premier Christy Clark said some spending limit on the pre-campaign period is justified, since the province went to scheduled elections in 2005. Current rules restrict party and non-party spending during a formal 28-day election campaign, but contain no limits on spending before that period.

The government intends to submit the proposed 40-day restriction to the B.C. Supreme Court before it takes effect. If a judge approves, the new restrictions would apply for the election set for May of 2013.

NDP justice critic Leonard Krog said the latest effort will likely be challenged again and rejected again. If the B.C. Liberals want to reform election spending, they should ban corporate and union donations to political parties as the NDP and B.C. Conservative parties have advocated, Krog said.

In 2008, the B.C. Liberal government passed amendments to the B.C. Elections Act limiting spending by non-party advocacy groups to no more than $150,000 in the 60 days before the official 28-day election campaign. Registered political parties were restricted to spending $2.2 million during that time.

Interestingly a comment was posted on my Facebook page, regarding this story, by the BC Liberal MLA for Kamloops South, Kevin Krueger; he said:

Do you think that the unions who own the NDP should be free to advertise as much as they'd like in elections, Al?

The BCTF, for example, which is the only union I know that deliberately frightens its members time and again, extracts over $42 million per year from them in union dues. I am told they have 60 full-time political organizers on staff.

You think they should have free rein, no matter what the teachers think?

Remember, the genius Vander Zalm pushed them into the clutches of this weird organization.

Now again remember I posted this story, without comment, just as an interest piece; however I thought, ‘What the heck, I’ll make a quick reply to him', and so I said:

There is no magic pot of money to pay for any wage increases --- so what is this strike really all about?

THE BC Federationist, in a release to members, says:

For salary and benefits — teachers want to “keep up” and “catch up.” What do we mean by that? We want to keep up with inflation ... unfortunately; the government’s position has and continues to be “net zero.” The government claims that taxpayers cannot afford increases to public sector wages and that wages must remain flat because the government is running a deficit.

Well that really does sound reasonable, doesn’t it?  Yet it is simplistic in that the BC Teachers Federation (BCTF) fail to acknowledge that an increase in wages for teachers means an increase to ALL public sector employees that HAVE already negotiated "Net Zero" contracts.

Taxpayers -- which includes teachers and all other government workers, have to understand that means there would be an increase in fees and taxes, to pay for ANY wage or salary increase for teachers!  There is ONLY one source of revenue for the government, so how do they plan to see wage increases paid for otherwise?

The truth is the BC Federation of Labour, and the BCTF, don't care.  The hierarchy of government unions want wage increases for all members, and they are using the teachers to try and force that.

BC Conservatives are the "Little Engine That Could"

The following story was published in the Cowichan News Leader Pictorial for March 5, 2012:

The leader of the British Columbia Conservatives says his party is the only one in the province committed to controlling government spending and lowering taxes.

Speaking to about 60 people at the Chemainus Theatre Feb. 28, John Cummins reacted to last week’s provincial budget and shared his views on other issues such as the negotiations between the provincial government and the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation and BC Hydro smart metres.

During his town hall meeting, Cummins also told the crowd he feels the Conservatives are poised to surpass the Liberals in the polls and can win the next provincial election.

Cummins says he was in Chemainus to help grown the constituency associations on the Island and spread the message that the BC Conservatives are alive and growing.

“Sort of like the little engine that could, we started from really nothing a year ago, and we’re now at 22 per cent of the polls,” he said. “The message is we can win the next provincial election.  "I think British Columbians are looking for change, and they’re tired of what they see in Victoria, and I think that’s why a lot of folks showed up here.”

In a poll that came out the day prior to his speech, the Conservatives stood at 22 per cent of decided voters, while the Liberals were at 24 per cent, and the NDP at 42 per cent, noted Reed Elley, president of the provincial BC Conservative Party.

“As I travel around this province, I know that what you’re reading in the polls is what people are thinking because that’s exactly the kind of message that I get,” said Cummins.

Cummins was critical of the provincial budget that was presented a week earlier.  "(The Liberals) were hoping that somehow or another, this budget was going to convince Conservatives that they should look at these Liberals as real small-c conservatives able to represent them and their issues in the legislature ... they hoped to present a budget that would be appealing to us who are fiscal conservatives. Well, it was anything but,” he said.

“The polling tells us that only 29 per cent of the people believe this budget was in their best interest, that it was a conservative budget.  And why is that?  Well, with a small-c conservative budget, you’re not going to see tax increases in these tough times, but that’s exactly what this budget does.”

The 2012 budget cancels tax cuts that had been planned for small businesses, noted Cummins.  "This is a huge disincentive to business to grow in British Columbia and to create jobs,” he said.

“One of the reasons we as a country have done well during this recent economic downturn is because our businesses taxes were low, businesses continued to invest in Canada because the corporate taxes were low, and in these tough economic times, to raise them is foolishness, and yet that’s what this Liberal government wants to do.”

Cummins says the Conservatives would do things differently by governing and managing this province based on two essential components — tax relief and spending restraint.

“Under tax relief, we already announced right at the get-go that we would eliminate the carbon tax,” he said. “We’re also committed to getting spending under control. You cannot keep accumulating debt the way we have been in this province and get away with it.”

To get spending under control, Cummins says a Conservative government would ask three questions before spending the province’s money: ‘does this program help economic growth’, ‘does this program help people who, through no fault of their own, can’t help themselves,’ and ‘does this program make B.C. a safer place to live, work and raise a family’.

“We have to address those things that really matter to people, we have to carefully manage spending in this province, we have to get the taxes under control,” said Cummins.

“We cannot continue to go back to the days of increases taxes for businesses and personal taxes; we’re paying far too much in taxes now. It’s not helpful.”

When asked how he would handle the negotiations with the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) differently, Cummins said both sides should bear responsibility.

“This should have been dealt with early last fall,” he said. “It should not have dragged on as long as it has, and I think part of that problem has to be placed squarely at the foot of the government.

“I think respect both ways is necessary — I think the government has to respect the teachers in a way that they haven’t, but I think the leadership of the teachers’ association could have done the job a lot better as well.”

Strikes in the public sector?? Not if the service is considered essential!

Seventy percent of teachers in the BC Teachers Federation (BCTF) have voted ... and they voted overwhelmingly (90%) in support of strike action to meet their demands.

So here's my thought ... and I know I am not alone in it ... if it is part of the business of government, then it should be considered essential.  If not, then it should be in the private sector.

NOTE TO BCTF --- you are not the employer

I'm going to start by saying this blog will likely get some people ticked; however here goes.

Two decades of provincial negotiations with the BC Teachers Federation have resulted in only one collective agreement --- all others have been imposed. Many you reading this probably know why; for some reason or other the BC Teachers Federation doesn’t seem to understand they are not them employer!

Years ago I worked at a unionized open pit copper mine. The union bargaining committee were able to negotiate safety issues, wages, work hours, etc ... typical things that would be brought up / negotiated during bargaining in the public sector.

Teachers though??? Well they seem to think think they can negotiate how few days and hours they work --- how small class sizes should be – the pay they receive – where and when they work – and on and on it goes.

BC, not its teachers union, should run education

GLOBE AND MAIL:: You would think so, but it looks like our BC Liberal government in Victoria is getting weaker and weaker in that belief.  Now it seems they (who is running the ship in Victoria by the way?) are prepared to throw in the towel to the BC Teachers Federation, which of course is allied with the NDP.