Education
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of BC students graduate without essential skills.
We are entering uncharted territory as we move through the 2020s. Rapid changes in the economy mean that many of the jobs our children will have don’t even exist today, and they will be using technology that has not yet been invented to solve the incredible challenges facing us.
We need to redesign our education system to prepare our children for this future and instill in them a commitment to lifelong learning. For our children to be able to prosper in the world that is taking shape before them, adaptability, perseverance, problem solving and creativity are some of the most important skills they will learn.
Sixteen years of austerity under the BC Liberals has left classroom sizes too large, teacher salaries struggling to compete nationally and school districts struggling to find the funding needed to ensure a quality education for all students.
While the BC NDP have taken some action around the edges, they have done very little transformative work where it really matters. This won’t be something we can change overnight, but it is essential that the work starts now.
COVID-19 has complicated these already-existing challenges, adding new stressors to our education system. While some resources and supports have been put in place, not enough has been done to address the fears and challenges in our education system.
Parents shouldn’t have to choose between their child’s safety and the quality of their child’s education.
Teachers shouldn’t have to worry about their personal safety, and districts shouldn’t be facing uncertainty about whether they have the funding needed to ensure a high-quality education for all students.
With a focus on ensuring public schools have the funding needed to address the challenges of this current school year, the BC Greens education plan brings the age of scarcity in education to an end.
Education quality, safety and flexibility
To ensure a quality education, a safe school environment and flexibility for parents and students, the BC Greens will:
Ensure that enrollment during COVID does not compromise the quality of education, nor the ability of schools to retain current teachers or education assistants.
Maintain additional COVID funding for PPE and online learning throughout this school year, and into the 2020/2021 school year as required.
Ensure every school district has the resources to develop credible and robust remote learning and hybrid learning options.
Support the mental health of our students with $24 million in new funding to enhance the number of counsellors in our schools, starting with the current school year.
Develop and implement a province-wide plan to address racism that exists in schools, and commit to additional, ongoing funding to deepen the work of reconciliation and Indigenous education across K-12.
Public Early Childhood Education (ECE)
To help support the integration of ECE into our public school system, the BC Greens will:
Provide $300 million in new funding to begin phasing in up to 25 hours of free early childhood education programs per week for 3 and 4-year-olds, rising to $550 million as capacity expands.
Provide $100 million in new funding to create a new capital program in the Ministry of Education to fund renovation and additions to existing schools to support ECE spaces.
School nutrition program
To help address affordability, to ensure that no child attends school hungry and to better integrate nutrition into our curriculum, the BC Greens will:
Create a new $25 million fund for school districts to develop a food program for their schools in their district.
Improve per-student funding
We will work with education partners on a long-term plan for how BC can improve its per-student funding. We will:
Address the continued disparities in wages, class size and composition between districts.
Improve access to speech-language pathologists and school psychologists and develop new resources for students with special needs.
Develop a new funding formula that supports a 21st-century education system.
Support post-secondary students
Double the funding of the B.C. Access Grant to help support post-secondary part-time students, and those enrolled in multi-year programs.
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