Incoming SD73 board pledges to step up calls for better schools, funding – regardless of next government

The next government is likely going to be the NDP under David Eby – who were in power before the snap election was called – or the B.C. Conservatives under interim leader Lorne Doerkson. Whether that government is a majority or minority remains to been seen.

There are also candidates represented by the BC Green Party and leader Emily Lowan, Centre BC and leader Elenore Sturko, and OneBC and interim leader Dallas Brodie, along with about dozen independent candidates.

“It is really a [case of], we’ll find out more when we see who’s elected but also who’s elected in each riding and who would be representing areas throughout the province, who’s in opposition, who we have conversations with and who represents us locally,” Grieve added.

“We also need to continue to have the conversations so whoever is in leadership and whoever ends up being the minister of education and child care and the minster of infrastructure, if they continue with that same structure… Those relationships will be incredibly important to us.”

Advocacy isn’t limited to the board, as SD73 Superintendent Mike St. John said district staff are working years into the future to estimate factors like enrolment so capacity challenges and other needs can be addressed, if and when they arise.

“We can’t wait for a couple years for the funding to come,” St. John said. “We can’t wait for next week to see who the government is going to be.”

“I don’t want the audience to think it’s going to be two years until we figure out these capacity issues, which it probably will be. But it doesn’t mean we’re waiting two years for our schools to get better because we expect those to be better tomorrow.”

SD73’s advocacy is primarily focused on pushing for a fair per-student funding model to help address rising costs as well as the continued lobbying for new and upgraded schools, as some buildings are nearing the end of their usable lifespan.

“Every time a school is not supported in a district like ours, we are incurring more costs for remediation to existing buildings,” Grieve added. “Some of our aging facilities are from the ’50s and ’70s. We’re dealing with things like asbestos and lead paint, accessibility issues, but on top of that we have to increase our bus fleet, we have to increase our cost of fuel, we have to increase portables.”

“All those things come out of our dollars. They’re not impacting the ministry’s budget, they’re impacting our local budget and we need to continue to tell that story.”

by Victor Kaisar

Incoming SD73 board pledges to step up calls for better schools, funding – regardless of next government

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