The following facts and figures have been chosen to provide a basis for debate; we all pay for public education by various taxes and all have a vested interest in this topic.Education in B.C. seems to be entering into a period of unrest; locally School District 51 (SD51) has additional problems. The previous edition of the Gazette provided some interesting quotations from the B.C. Teachers’ Federation (BCTF), the Minister of Education, and the president of the Boundary District Teachers’ Association (BDTA) on the labour situation which might provide insight into attitudes—both seemed to be quite wordy. Apart from the short and expected platitudes in the statements, nothing seems to have been put forward about improvement to the education system. The following figures are as accurate as I can discern but may not stand up to serious audit! At high school graduating, the end ‘product’ could still be improved from the $5.3 billion (15 per cent of provincial budget) annual spending on the school system. There has been no mention of how the unrest is likely to affect families and, more importantly, the students. The BCTF and BDTA do not mention cash figures; the minister says it is about 13.5 per cent over three years, or 4.5 per cent per annum. The current teachers’ salaries are between $42,800 and $82,600.Canadian Consumer Price Index between June 2006 and June 2013 (the last collective agreement start and end dates) has been 12.33 per cent over seven years—an annual average of 1.76 per cent. During this period, the annual pay increase for the teachers was 2.96 per cent when compounded. It should be noted that for years 2011-12 and 2012-13, no increases were given—this was in accordance of the B.C. government’s ‘moratorium’ of zero increases for all government-paid employees. SD51 topics will come later when time permits; however, how disappointing that so few taxpayers attended the two SD51 budget discussions. Is it that we do not have sufficient time? Do we not care? Are we too apathetic? I would like to think that it is none of the aforementioned; perhaps when we have to dig deeper into our pockets, there may be a reaction. Unfortunately, it may be too late.Nigel James, Grand Forks