All trustees on the School District No. 51 board of education share my deep disappointment with the absence of public education as a topic in the recent provincial election leaders’ debate.
To me, this highlights the critical role that locally-elected trustees play as champions of public education.
As the governors of public education, we are able to transform the needs, wishes and desires of the communities we serve into policies that direct our schools.
We are able to respond to the concerns and issues brought forward to us.
For instance, at a recent finance committee meeting, a group of parents told the board of concerns they had about some aspects of our proposed budget.
Two students were also there with a petition declaring their feelings on a potential staffing decision for their school.
When the board debates the budget for final approval, we will take into consideration those concerns and thoughts that were expressed to us.
Our decision-making will take all of it into account.
I was asked why I thought education should be an issue in this election and part of the leaders’ debate.
It isn’t that the issues that were debated – the economy, jobs and pipelines, etc. – are not critical and important, because they are. It was the absence of education as an issue that was so concerning.
The work of a healthy and sustainable society begins in our schools. Research tells us several things; economic progress goes hand-in-hand with a strong public education system.
Well-educated citizens are healthier and live longer. We know there is no greater determinant of the long-term well-being for British Columbia and its citizens than the quality of its public education system. When students succeed, British Columbia succeeds. I view public education as a savings account; invest early and regularly and you will recoup much, much more than your original investment.
While education may have been missing from the leaders’ debate, it is not missing from local all-candidates meetings.
Here in the Boundary area, trustees, teachers, administrators and district Canadian Union of Public Employee (CUPE) members all joined together to ask our questions to those hoping to become the next Boundary-Similkameen MLA.
At the recent annual general meeting for the BC School Trustees’ Association, trustees from across B.C. were sharing stories and strategies on how they engaged (or will be engaging) the candidates in their communities and sought commitments to the importance of public education.
In scanning Twitter, I came upon tweet after tweet, many with pictures and video attached, of education questions being asked and answered at all-candidates meetings from all over B.C.
Provincially, trustees, teachers and education workers are ensuring that the profile of public education is part of this election.
The BCSTA has been running an effective election campaign for the past number of months; “We Value Public Education,” #MeTooBC.
We wrote to the party leaders posing a set of questions on the education issues we felt were the most critical in this election.
The answers have arrived and can be found on the BCSTA website www.bcsta.org.
– Teresa Rezansoff is board chair for SD51 and president of the BC School Trustees Association