Well To Be Honest, Math Was Never One Of My Best Subjects In School ...

I get VERY tired about hearing how much independent schools are hurting the public school system, because they take financial resource away.

 

For those who have refused to believe this is untrue, or are being brainwashed by partisan comments from the BCTF and its partners, here are the FACTS:
Grants To Independent Schools:
The district operating grant consists of the per-pupil base allocation plus supplementary amounts added to produce the per-student district operating grant amount. Supplementary amounts are included for unique student needs (including learning disabilities, learning assistance, speech and language services, mild intellectual disabilities, English Language Learning, aboriginal education, and adult education programs), enrolment decline (greater than one percent per year), salary differentials, transportation and housing, and unique geographic factors. The supplementary factors account for the difference in school district operating grant amounts.

The number of full-time equivalent (FTE) eligible students enrolled in an independent school is a key component to calculating school grants. A full grant is paid for each full-time student who is enrolled for a minimum of 600 hours from July 1 to May 15 of the school year. Partial grants are paid for eligible partial students who receive less than 600 hours of instruction.

The designated percentages are as follows:

Group 1 = 50 percent of the local district's per-student grant amountGroup 2 = 35 percent of the local district's per-student grant amount

SEE MORE AT: http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/topic.page?id=699A7E1C76EF494D9918D067921A86F1&title=Grants+to+Independent+Schools

In others words, each student in private education, provides an additional 50% of their grants TOO the public school system. Parents of students in private schools, are in fact SUBSIDIZING students in public education.

And before anyone jumps all over private schools for being elitist, the vast majority have demographics as mixed as any public school, and parents that are, by and large, everyday hard working people that live in the same neighbourhoods as everyone else.

 

Well I did have a discussion about this with some folks on Twitter, and of course I got responses not favourable to what had to say. Here are just a few of the responses I received:

 

@AlanForseth I am also curious about why you assert private school receipt of $$ from public purse isn't a subsidy? 

 

Private education, despite govt contribution , is not available to all regardless of income

 

access to benefit of my tax contribution should be progressively weighted to those with less than me

 

my opinion on my own tax dollars. Should only be spent on that which benefits all, to which all have access

 

If you choose private nobody's forcing you. Pay full shot. Anything else to me is a subsidy

 

It's unfair for public $ to subsidize classrooms of 18-20 in private system when govt won't bargain CSC in public schools

 

Here are just a few of the responses I posted back (with apologies for the misspells but Twitter only gives you 140 characters including spaces):

 

How is getting only 50% of /student funding a subsidy. Students in private schools support public system to tune of Millions of $s 

 

Approx $8,100 / student in public education, while +/- $4,000 per student in private education. I CAN do the math & its clear 2 me

 

Paid same taxs yet when my kids asked 2B in private skool, how was receiving 50% LESS of the / student funding a subsidy

 

Bull Crap! Everyday working parents with students in privat schools have 50% of student grant handed over 2 support public schools

 

Parents pay same taxes, but they get 50%. Rest of taxes paid goes to SUBSIDIZE public education.

 

And one of mine final thoughts was:

We all have opinions on where taxes $ shud be spent, & think we'd agree lots wasted. Can't agree on this tho - thnx 4 exchange :)

 

What's my final thoughts on this? Well to be honest, Math was never one of my best subjects in school, but I have had to learn math for business, I in my opinion, I am pretty good at what I need to calculate.

 

No matter how others want to spin it, the Per Student payment for children in private

education is 50% of what it is for students in public schools (approximately $4,000 vs. $8,000). And, adding the roughly 76,000 students currently in private schools to the public school system would cost the government an additional Three Hundred and Four Million dollars per year (76,000 students times $4,000 each)!

 

AND ... most families with children in private school ARE NOT rich elitist people. They are everyday working families that chose to allocate the money the earn to have their children in private schools. They come from the ever shrinking lower and middle middle-class.

 

Enough!!! Leave these poor people alone. And ... let them continue to subsidize those who are in the public school system.

 

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

“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.