VSB Budget and
Advocating For Our Schools
2009-10
2010
Apr 30 response from BC Premier
2010
Apr
27 K-PAC letter to the Minister of Education, British Columbia re
VSB budget cutbacks
2009 Oct 27 letter from the VSB's Chair, Board of Education
http://kitsilano.vsb.bc.ca/downloads/VBELetterToParentsOct09.pdf
with comments:
"Since the 2002-3 school year the Vancouver School Board has cut more
than $40 million from its operating budget'
and
"As we look ahead the financial picture does not improve"
and
"Trustees believe that investing in our children's education is the
best economic stimulus and the way to build a strong and healthy
economy and society"
2007-8 Related to the
seeming lack of funding for seismic upgrading to allow for adequate
gymnasium and auditorium facilities at Kits and covered outdoor
play area and after school care at Gordon, see
Kits PAC School
Renewal (Seismic) Committee
There is an
interesting chapter (21) in support of public education, relevant to
the emerging global economy, in the book "The Age of Turbulence,
Adventure In A New World" by Alan Greenspan, former chairman of
the US Federal Reserve Board - published 2007.
Kits
-
message
from principal re seismic and VSB facilities review as of
April 23, 2007
2007
Jan_22_DPAC_survey_on_school_fees
Money
announced by the province on December 7 , 2005, see
http://www2.news.gov.bc.ca/news_releases_2005-2009/2005EDU0108-001151-Attachment1.pdf
Kitsilano is to receive $68,950, see
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/k12funding/funding/05-06/onetime/sd39.pdf
The money is to be spent after consultations with the "broader parent
community and staff," according to a letter from the Minister, see
http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/newproposals/archives/pdf/2005-06%20Spending%20Plan%20letter%201.pdf
Parents/staff/admin are to develop a spending plan, showing learning
objectives to be met, by *January 10, 2006* according to another letter
from the Minister , see
http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/newproposals/archives/pdf/MOE%20Ltr%2005dec09.pdf
Principals are to submit their spending plans by January 10, 2006. The
Ministry requires that a "parent representative", who we at Kits PAC
have taken to mean the PAC co-chairs, sign off on the Principal's
submission.
Kits PAC will use our Direct
Ask list (posted on the Kits website) which has already been
presented to the PAC, when making suggestions to Ms Daniel, Principal.
Send your comments, ideas, or
concerns by Jan. 4, 2006 to kitspac@hotmail.com.
The School
Planning Council will be meeting on January 5, 2006 and the spending
plan will be
an item on the agenda.
The Ministry of Education has
just released $150m in a one time only grant to PACs across the
province. Kits PAC has received close to $30,000 which we will allocate
to departments within the school using our Wish List as a guide. If you
have particular areas that you would like to see funded, please let us
know at kitspac@hotmail.com. We will have some time at our Apr. 13,
2005 PAC meeting to discuss our priorities for spending. Come and tell
us what matters most to you at Kits.
There is a proposal for a Canadian Literature initiative.
2005/2006 School Board Budget
- Community Input is Invited
The Vancouver School Board is seeking input from the general
public/community with respect to the budget priorities for the
2005/2006 school year. The Board of School Trustees values the opinion
of the general public/community and invites you to take the opportunity
to make your views known so that a budget can be developed that takes
into consideration the input received.
Trustees will be receiving delegations regarding the 2005/2006 Budget
on Tuesday, February 22nd, at 7:00 pm in the Gymnasium of Mount
Pleasant Elementary School (and Thursday, February 24th, in the Board
Room of the Education Centre, at 1580 West Broadway, if second meeting
is required. Please check the Board's website at www.vsb.bc.ca
for up-to-date information.) Groups or individuals who wish to
speak should register with the Business Administration Coordinator at
604-713-5283, no later than Monday, February 21st.
In order to facilitate sufficient time for Trustees' discussions,
written input into the budget priorities is requested by mail, fax or
e-mail by Friday, February 25th.
All submissions to the Board are considered to be public documents. The
Board, therefore, reserves the right to make any submissions available
to the public.
Vancouver School Board
Attn: Business Administration Coordinator 1580 West Broadway Vancouver,
B.C.
V6J 5K8
Fax: 713-5049
E-mail: budget@vsb.bc.ca <mailto:budget@vsb.bc.ca>
Kitsilano Family of
Schools Advocacy Evening, Tuesday, February 15th , 2005 Library
VSB Chair Adrienne Montani and Trustee Noel Herron will be attending an
advocacy evening for public education at Kitsilano. The evening
has been organized by the Gordon PAC and all of the Kitsilano
family of schools will be participating in the evening.
ADVOCATING FOR MORE
EDUCATION FUNDING
What is this about?
By now you may have received a mail drop piece from the provincial
government entitled "Your Surplus, Your Priorities: Building BC
Together". This brochure asks for public opinion on priorities for
spending BC’s surplus in the next one to two years. Among a number of
priorities suggested is "K-12 Education". The PAC Executive would like
to use this mail drop piece to advocate for more education funding.
What can you do?
We are asking parents to:
1. Fill out the form, marking "K-12 Education as
"very important".
2. Return it to the school by December 8th, 2004.
The PAC Executive will endeavour to deliver them to the
provincial government.
We hope to deliver a very powerful message on the importance of
adequate funding for public education.
For those who have not received the brochure, you can find it on the
internet at the following link: http://www.gov.bc.ca/bcgov/content/docs/@2NO32_0YQtuW/back.pdf
You can print this out, complete it and return it to the school.
Thank you very much!
September 2004
Provincial Budget time is
coming up soon, and the premier is traveling throughout the province
listening to voters' wishes for the current provincial budget surplus.
At Kits we have a Wish List of items our staff have identified as
important for providing quality education in our classrooms. Our Wish
List totals $150,000! Other schools are in similar positions.
This is a good time to write to your MLA or the Premier to voice your
views on the needs in public education.
John Ralston Saul spoke
at Magee Secondary, September 2004. He highlighted Canada's long
history of support for a universal, accessible public education system.
His entertaining and well crafted talk earned a prolonged standing
ovation. A live
webcast of his talk is available on Working TV at the link below.
John Ralston
Saul Webcast
VSB Budget
and Advocating For Our Schools 2003-4
The Kits PAC
Chair and others have been involved in meetings due to concern about
the VSB Budget cutbacks this year.
VSB - Advocating
for our schools - http://www.vsb.bc.ca/board/Advocating/default.htm
VSB Vancouver
Public Schools Foundation - http://www.vpsf.bc.ca/default.htm
Charter for Public Education - http://www.charter.publiced.ca
http://www.eracbc.ca
The Educational Resource Acquisition Consortium (ERAC) is an
association of BC public school districts and groups working together
on software and video resource acquisition to make the process more
efficient and leverage lower prices through bulk purchases.
Also see PAC Library Support
Also see Links
of
General
Interest to Parents
including parent
founded
organization:
Vancouver SOS - Save
our Schools
http://www.vancouversos.ca/
SOS now BCSPE
http://www.bcspe.ca/
Also see Kits PAC Fundraising Committee
Kits PAC Special
Interest Groups