B.C. reverses view on school closures
Janet Steffenhagen
Vancouver Sun
June 24, 2008

The B.C. Education Ministry has abruptly changed its message on school closures and is now urging school boards to think long and hard before shutting more schools.

For years, the ministry has been pressing boards to reduce capacity due to declining enrolments, and trustees responded by closing more than 150 schools around the province. Now, however, the ministry is telling boards they may well need extra space if a government proposal for expanded kindergarten goes ahead.

Richmond school district secretary-treasurer Ken Morris said he and his colleagues heard the new message late last month from deputy minister James Gorman. "We gulped," he said, thinking of the many schools that have been closed since the Liberals came to power in 2001 and changed the funding formula so it no longer encouraged boards to maintain excess space.

Several more schools are slated for closure this month in places like Nanaimo, Smithers and Prince Rupert….

The ministry floated the idea of expanded kindergarten in its 2008 throne speech and recently established an Early Childhood Learning Agency to study the issue and make a report by year-end. The agency is seeking public comment.

The B.C. School Trustees' Association says it expressed several concerns about the proposals to the agency this week. It wants assurances that any expansion of kindergarten will be fully funded and it is also concerned about finding enough space and sufficient numbers of teachers, president Connie Denesiuk said in an interview.

In some districts, space won't be a problem, but others will find it "tremendously challenging," she added.

Denesiuk hadn't heard about a moratorium on closures, but said the ministry is telling boards to think about the possibility they will have many more young students in coming years. "It's prudent planning."

Richmond is one of the districts that could find themselves strapped for space. It closed five elementary schools in recent years as part of the province-wide drive to reduce capacity. Now, it faces a possible demand for 700 additional kindergarten spaces if the government introduces full-day kindergarten for all five-year-olds.

Currently, the government provides full-day kindergarten only for children who are learning English as a second language, are aboriginal or have certain special needs. For others, only half-day kindergarten is free.

Expanded early childhood education is part of the government's drive to make B.C. the best educated, more literate jurisdiction on the continent by 2015.

Irene Lanzinger, president of the B.C. Teachers' Federation, said she agrees boards shouldn't be closing schools, but said the space should be used for high-quality universal daycare, not kindergarten.