A new coalition formed to oppose the Burnaby Citizens Association in November’s municipal elections has fired the opening salvo on the school board front.
In its first public statement since incorporating in March, the Burnaby First Coalition challenged the current school trustees – all Burnaby Citizens Association members – to stop budget cuts by reaching out to the 7,000 kids who they say are living in Burnaby but not attending public schools.
“Failure to reverse the trend to non-enrolment may guarantee increasing defection from public schools, which results in funding reductions, which results in worsening quality, which in turn increases defections,” stated a press release sent out by the group Wednesday.
Burnaby First, which includes Green party members as well as former members of Burnaby Parents’ Voice and Burnaby TEAM, has started an online petition urging the current board to talk to parents whose kids aren’t enrolled in the district “in order to begin to make changes that will attract and retain students.”
"Attraction and retention of local families must be top priorities,” former Burnaby Parents’ Voice spokesperson Heather Leung said in Wednesday’s release. “We believe that engaging creatively and positively with non-enrolling families is a win-win strategy that will make publicly funded education inclusive and even enhance quality."
Each Burnaby student brings in at least $7,142 (and an average of $9,033) in funding from the province, according to Burnaby First’s calculations, and the group said that means the 7,000 local kids not in the district represent a potential loss of between $50 million and $63 million.
“We must act now before further cuts erode the quality of a district education to the point where the district cannot compete for these children with other educational alternatives,” Green party activist and Burnaby First volunteer-in-chief Bruce Friesen said.
He and fellow Burnaby First activist Helen Ward, a former Burnaby Parents’ Voice candidate, had argued similar points in letters to the editor before Wednesday’s press release.
The Burnaby Board of Education, however, has taken issue with their claims.
A letter to the editor published in the May 14 NOWand signed by all seven Burnaby Citizens Association trustees called Burnaby First’s calculations “very-much over-simplified” and said it “misrepresented” the number of school-aged kids living in Burnaby but not attending public schools.
Trustees said the suggestion that the school district was doing little to attract students to the school district was simply not true.
“Our enrolment statistics indicate that we are meeting the learning needs of our community – and then some,” stated the letter.
But even while the district tries to be all things to all people, the trustees argued, some families will still choose other options for reasons beyond the district’s control.
“These reasons include religious beliefs, ideology or specialty programs that meet their individual or desired needs,” stated the letter.
All of the current school trustees except James Wang, who will run for city council, have been acclaimed as Burnaby Citizens Association candidates for November’s elections.
Burnaby First has yet to announced its candidates.
