Brenda Dorosz presented NDP Leader John Horgan with a petition from local residents calling on the government to give guarantees that rural education funding will be permanent. Horgan received the petition on Tuesday when he stopped by at Troy’s Grill to meet supporters and he will present the petition in the B.C. Legislature. (Richard McGuire photo)
Fears that provincial funding for rural schools could evaporate after the May election are prompting some school supporters to speak out.
Brenda Dorosz, who led the fight to keep Osoyoos Secondary School (OSS) open last year, was gathering names on a petition last week that NDP Leader John Horgan is expected to present in the B.C. Legislature.
That petition calls on the government to guarantee that stable funding for rural schools will continue.
On June 30 last year, the same day OSS was scheduled to close, MLA Linda Larson announced $490,000 to keep the school open under the province’s Rural Education Enhancement Fund (REEF).
Larson said at the time that the operating portion of that funding would be ongoing, however the school district will need to re-apply for it in future years.
She repeated Monday that the funding is ongoing and said to say otherwise is “fear mongering.”
But Dorosz wants a more firm commitment that the funding for rural schools will be permanent. She worries that last June’s announcement was only intended to take the heat off the government until it could make it through the election.
She wants more ironclad guarantees of secure funding that “would help school districts and parents to relax a little bit.”
Dorosz said signatures were being collected on the petition at South Okanagan Concrete, Advanced Fitness Club and Osoyoos Nail Studio.
Also members of the Save Our School committee were approaching people to sign.
The petition with about 250 names was presented to NDP Leader Horgan, who was in Osoyoos on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, NDP Education Critic Rob Fleming, who came to Osoyoos twice last year when parents were trying to save OSS, said he’s also worried the province’s funding for rural schools might not continue after the election.
“That’s my concern,” said Fleming. “Revenge is a core value for [Premier] Christy Clark and she doesn’t care for communities or anyone who stands up to her. She’s shown hostility towards public education throughout her entire 15-year career, both as Minister of Education and Premier. That’s not going to change.”
Fleming worries the REEF wasn’t intended as a long-term solution.
“I think the rural education fund was written in haste, as an exercise in political damage control,” he said. “It does not provide stable and adequate funding for rural schools.”
MLA Larson was named as parliamentary secretary for rural education at the same time the REEF was announced. In recent months she has been consulting the public and stakeholders throughout the province on rural education.
Larson was to hold an open house on the issue in Prince George last Wednesday, however, the NDP observes that none of her nine open houses are being held in Boundary-Similkameen.
“I guess it should come as no surprise,” said Fleming. “It’s also consistent. She spent the divisive bitter months when Osoyoos was threatened with losing a secondary school by hiding from her constituents and condemning those who stood up for her community.”
Fleming thinks the fact that there is no open house in Boundary-Similkameen reflects in part a desire to avoid parents who recall last year’s events.
“Even as late as April 29, she wrote an open letter to Osoyoos telling residents to give up and get over it. The closure of OSS was a done deal,” said Fleming. “And then just a few weeks later, Christy Clark put her in charge of saving rural schools. Heaven help us.”
Larson disagrees with Fleming’s characterization of her.
“When Osoyoos Secondary School was slated for closure by the school district, I repeatedly met with parents, community leaders and those working in our school system to listen to the concerns they brought forward,” Larson said Monday in an emailed statement.
“As a long-time resident and former mayor I know how important the school is – advocating loud and clear in Victoria how closing the school could adversely affect families and the community at large,” she continued. “In no way have I avoided parents. In fact, I have actively met with them. For the NDP or anyone else to suggest otherwise is simply untrue.
“The only ones who are electioneering are the NDP. They have yet to show any leadership on rural education. In June we announced the Rural Education Enhancement Fund (REEF), which kept seven schools from closing this school year – including Osoyoos Secondary School. The funding is ongoing and has been since the announcement – so districts have the certainty they need to plan coming years. To state otherwise is fear-mongering in the community.
“The NDP can’t get their facts straight. We have made a clear commitment to the community that Osoyoos Secondary will remain open in the future.
“We have created a path forward for rural education – engaging stakeholders, families and members of the public. This includes welcoming parents to participate in consultations online at https://engage.gov.bc.ca/ruraleducation/.
“We want to create jobs in rural BC so that we have healthy, vibrant and economically sustainable communities in the years to come. The NDP have no rural education plan, and have yet to provide a concrete course of action apart from politicizing the concerns of families in rural BC.”
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
NDP Education Critic Rob Fleming says he’s concerned Premier Christy Clark may take revenge after the election by cutting rural education funding. (Richard McGuire photo)
MLA Linda Larson insists the rural education funding is ongoing and says for the NDP to say otherwise “is fear mongering.” (Contributed photo)
