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These days in B.C. politics, most people’s attention is on the pending leadership races taking place in both major provincial parties.

Serious contenders have declared their intention to seek the leadership of the B.C. Liberals and the New Democratic Party, yet the debate around policy, ideas, and the changes they will bring to their party (and potentially government) have been somewhat lacking.

This is especially true of any serious discussion around fixing the education system, and nowhere is it more apparent than in Surrey.

Potential leaders need to be asked about the widespread funding gaps and school closures taking place across the province. How will they fix the class sizes that have grown beyond what should be acceptable in a first-rate school system?

What will they do about the epidemic of portables and makeshift classroom space in Surrey that has resulted from years without any capital funding from the provincial government?

Have they thought about fixing the educational funding formulas for inner-city and special needs students that continue to starve Surrey students of the resources they really need to learn properly?

Here are the facts.

Surrey is the largest and fastest-growing school district in the province yet no new schools have been funded since 2005.

Surrey’s school district forecast is for 67,580 full-time equivalent students in 2010-11, with new growth in the student population often exceeding forecasts because of the rate at which children and youth are moving into the city, often into secondary suites which may not be included in official density counts.

And while Surrey’s population continues to grow at a rapid rate of nearly 10,000 new residents each and every year, its population continues to be a diverse one. More than 20 percent of the city’s families are single-parent. In recent years, nearly a third of all government-assisted refugees in Canada chose to settle in Surrey.

The amount of CommunityLINK funding for inner-city schools that Surrey receives from the government, however, has never reflected these needs. In 2010-11, Surrey is scheduled to receive $3,825,561 in funding, about $57 per student.

Compare this with other districts: Burnaby will get $91.77; Langley $104..80; Vancouver $157.40; and Greater Victoria’s school district will get a whopping $198.46 per student, 3.5 times the rate of Surrey.

And Surrey’s kids aren’t doing much better on the special needs end of things, either.

The gap between what the district needs to deliver services for children with special needs (those with English as a second language, learning disabilities, or even autism), and what it gets from the province in operating grants has risen from $4.20 in 2004-05, to $19.96 in 2009-10.

The solution to fixing Surrey’s education system is simple.

Give the school district the funding it needs to operate properly.

Give Surrey capital funding to build the new schools it desperately needs to accommodate its continued growth. Fix the funding formulas so that Surrey receives the funding it needs to be able to properly deliver services to inner-city and special needs kids.

You can help give education the priority it deserves in the B.C. Liberal and NDP leadership campaigns by contacting the candidates and asking them where they stand on the issue.

Stephanie Ryan,
President
Surrey Civic Coalition

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