Local residents can get back at Liberals for school school closures during next provincial election

Dear Editor:

I understand why the decision by the school district to close Osoyoos Secondary School has become an emotional hot button issue for a great many residents.

Back in the 1950’s when I attended high school in Oliver, busing students from Osoyoos to Oliver was just a fact of life and both communities accepted and lived with it.

No wonder parents and local residents are upset as Osoyoos has had an effective high school for all these years and it really stings to consider it is being taken away from them.

My concern relates to the thought of using general taxation revenue to help fund a private school.

Basically education in this province is a provincial government responsibility.

The provincial Liberal government has shirked that responsibility by allowing locally elected school trustees to make the decision to close schools.

The provincial government, through Education Minister Bernier and local MLA Linda Larson, say that the local school board must be given the autonomy to close schools as necessary with no interference from them.

At the same time, the minister refuses to increase the education budget and insists school boards do whatever is necessary to live within their budget.

The school boards are saying we don’t have enough money to do that, so we have to close schools.

While I admire the volunteerism displayed by the people who allow their names to be put forward to be elected, in general how much experience does the average school board member have in running a multi-million dollar enterprise? How much supervision and guidance does the board receive from the province?

Therein lies the basis for the finger pointing and the mess that our community finds itself in.

I believe it is a slippery slope that we find ourselves on when we allow our provincial government to finesse us into stepping up to the plate with funding that is rightfully their responsibility.

While the effect is not as immediate, the way our dissatisfaction should be shown, is at the ballot box.

While in the past I worked with others in the community to assist in getting Bill Barisoff and John Slater elected, I have not been impressed with the performance of either the Minister of Education or our MLA.

Our provincial election is not far away.

In the meantime let’s not use funds that are meant to keep our town functioning with the basic amenities such as roads and sewers on a private school.  Thank you for allowing me to express my opinion.

Derek Noske

Osoyoos, B.C.