Save schools for future, government told
Metrovalley Newspaper Group
April 7, 2008

Parents and teacher representatives converged on the B.C. legislature Monday to press the government to slow down the closing of schools around the province.

At a news conference before a rally on the legislature lawn, B.C. Teachers' Federation president Irene Lanzinger said 150 schools have closed around B.C. since 2001. Another 21 will close at the end of June, and up to 24 more are threatened with closure, she said.

The government has emphasized falling student enrolment, but it's down only six per cent since the B.C. Liberals took office and is expected to level off and begin to rise again by 2016, Lanzinger said.

…school districts are being forced to sell school properties in order to qualify for provincial capital funding for new and upgraded facilities.

…. Lanzinger said the situation is particularly dire for rural districts, which have to consolidate schools and bus children long distances. But school closures have also taken place in growing urban areas….

Cowichan Valley school district had a special advisor appointed by the ministry last week at the request of the board. The district is facing the closure of four schools in June and a loss of programs such as French immersion…..Two of the four that are closing in June also host before- and after-school daycare programs, and one is the site of the B.C. government's new StrongStart early learning program.

Early childhood education and daycare don't count as school usage in the ministry's funding formula, and that's a factor in the district decision to close schools, Nelson said.