Education Minister Rob Fleming (second from right), NDP education critic at the time, and Mayor Sue McKortoff (right) congratulated Osoyoos Secondary School students Julianna Riznek and Natalia Ibanez for taking the initiative to create a “Thank You” banner for the Osoyoos community in May of 2016. (Richard McGuire file photo)
In June 2016, Osoyoos Secondary School (OSS) was facing closure due to insufficient provincial funding and some school trustees who favoured sending Osoyoos students to the overbuilt high school in Oliver.
Vocal citizens groups such as the Save Our Schools committee and the Osoyoos Independent School society kept up intense political heat – backed up by a town council determined to keep OSS open.
In Victoria, a youngish, articulate MLA was also turning up the heat on the former B.C. Liberal government.
Rob Fleming, the NDP education critic, made several visits to Osoyoos to support our school. He also kept up the pressure on former Education Minister Mike Bernier in the legislature.
Facing an election in less than a year, former Premier Christy Clark’s government blinked. At the last minute, they brought in a Rural Education Enhancement Fund (REEF) that allowed OSS to stay open.
Fast-forward 14 months and now Fleming is the minister of education. And now the ball is in his court to ensure that OSS and other rural schools have the necessary funding to stay open.
Fleming is keenly aware from his time spent in Osoyoos that a high school in a community with only one high school is much more important than just providing education.
It’s the life of the community.
“I was very inspired by a community that was willing to stand up to the previous government that simply didn’t get how important it was to the fabric and well-being of the community, but also to the economic and social aspirations and opportunities for the town,” Fleming told the Osoyoos Times in a recent interview.
But he accuses the former government of coming up with the REEF on the “back of an envelope.” Instead, he says, a comprehensive review of the education funding formula is needed – something that hasn’t been done since the Sullivan Commission under Bill Vander Zalm’s Social Credit government in 1988.
The B.C. Liberals abruptly switched to a per-student funding model in 2002, without a thorough review, which led to hundreds of school closures across the province, many in rural communities.
Fleming’s mandate letter from Premier John Horgan doesn’t explicitly mention rural education, but Fleming says this is implied in Horgan’s statement that Fleming is expected to “review the funding formula to develop a stable and sustainable model for the K-12 education system.”
This review, says Fleming, should start in the fall and take about 12 months.
Meanwhile, the REEF is built into the current budget year and will continue for the immediate future until the review produces “something more enduring and comprehensive” that is “fair and available and predictable for school districts, parents and communities,” Fleming says.
That’s probably the closest that a politician of any political stripe will come to a long-term commitment to keeping our school open.
In the provincial budget, education is second only to healthcare and money is not infinite. But Fleming is committed to a significant infusion of funding into the education system and he understands the different needs of rural schools.
That’s a very hopeful sign.
