B.C. trustees ask province to "redirect" private school funding to public education
Georgia Straight
April 24, 2010
By Stephen Hui

School trustees from across the province are calling on the B.C. Liberal government to take the funding it gives to private schools and put it into the public school system.

Today (April 24), at the B.C. School Trustees Association's annual general meeting in Victoria, trustees voted to "request the Ministry of Education to redirect to the public education system the public money spent on independent schools, other than band schools".

The Cowichan Valley school board had submitted the motion.

For the 2008-09 school year, the B.C. government provided $217 million in operating grants to independent schools, according to an overview on the ministry's Web site….

B.C. school trustees also backed a motion in support of school boards—such as Vancouver's—that are calling for more funding for public education.

Another motion passed by trustees urges the province to "provide adequate, predictable and sustainable funding that includes additional financial support for newly mandated initiatives and existing unfunded liabilities".

The same motion also calls on the Ministry of Education to establish a royal commission to figure out what constitutes "adequate funding".