B.C. school trustees seeking more money to deal with issues
Vancouver Sun
By Janet Steffenhagen
April 8, 2009 

School trustees want expanded kindergarten, safe drinking water, seismic upgrades, seatbelts in school buses, better rural roads, special-education training for teachers and an end to child poverty.

But more than anything, they want money.

That’s the message from resolutions to be debated later this month at the annual general meeting of the B.C. School Trustees' Association, including some that take issue with Liberal boasts that education funding is the highest it’s ever been.

“While the board appreciates that, on paper, education funding per student is the highest in history and that funding amounts have steadily increased since 2001, it is a somewhat different picture when put into practice,” says a resolution from Vancouver Island North.

Salaries and operating costs have also been climbing, trustees say, despite a steady decline in student enrolments. As well, boards of education have many new responsibilities - for early learning, public libraries and community literacy - plus a requirement to be carbon neutral by 2010….

The association’s annual general meeting starts April 23 in Kelowna.