Rob Fleming, NDP education critic. (Photo supplied)
Parents fighting to keep Osoyoos schools open have found an ally in Rob Fleming, the provincial NDP Education critic.
After speaking against the closures in the B.C. Legislature last week, Fleming now plans to come to Osoyoos on March 8, the day School District 53 holds its second of two consultation meetings on the proposed closures.
Fleming will be at Troy’s Grill that day for a soup and sandwich bar luncheon where people can share their concerns from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.,. The lunch is $10.
He will likely attend the community consultation meeting at 7 p.m. that evening. That meeting has been moved to the Sonora Community Centre instead of Osoyoos Elementary School (OSE), where it was originally set to take place.
Both MLA Linda Larson and Education Minister Mike Bernier insist the decision to close one of the two Osoyoos schools rests solely with the school board trustees.
But Fleming argues that school closings around the province result from underfunding by the B.C. Liberal government.
School districts, he said, rely almost entirely on funding from the province.
“I sympathize with Osoyoos in particular because this is the only school they have,” said Fleming. “It would be devastating for the town. But make no mistake – these decisions are made far away in Victoria. It’s the minister who is supposed to go to cabinet and stand up for public education and get the funds required to promote excellence in education.”
Fleming points to the Feb. 16 provincial budget that he calls “an absolute travesty for education.”
The province is requiring school districts to find an additional $25 million in administrative savings in 2016-17 on top of cuts last year of $29 million.
“The government pretends that this isn’t going to come out of classroom resources, but that’s exactly where it’s coming out of,” said Fleming.
He pointed out that already many school districts are spending only three per cent of their budgets on administration and that administrative costs have already been cut.
“That’s incredibly low overhead,” he said. “If anything, school boards should be teaching the ministry how to be efficient with their tax dollars.”
School District 53 is proposing to close either Osoyoos Secondary School (OSS) or OSE to help reduce a structural deficit of $530,000, which is forecasted to rise to $1.4 million in 2017.
The district says it spends four per cent of its budget on administration.
SD 53 estimates that the closing of either school would save less than $400,000 a year in operating costs.
“There’s no question these are excellent schools,” said Fleming, pointing to the awards Osoyoos students have won. “We’re talking here about very small amounts of money in the grand scheme of things. But this is what is happening in rural communities across B.C. They are literally closing schools in communities like Osoyoos.”
Fleming said he has spoken to Brenda Dorosz, chair of Save Our Schools (SOS) and he has also spoken with former mayor Stu Wells. He is in the process of speaking with some local teachers.
He said last week he had not yet spoken to MLA Linda Larson on the issue, but he is willing to. He would like to give her advice based on his own experience.
“I’ve served in the House longer than her and I’ve dealt with school closure issues,” said Fleming. “In one case we fought to keep a local elementary school open in my area, which had declining enrolment.
“The parents and kids and ultimately the trustees said, ‘yes, let’s give this school a chance to turn around over three years.’ And the school rebounded and has one of the strongest school populations in the district now.”
Fleming congratulated the people of Osoyoos for getting 1,000 people out to the first consultation meeting Feb. 9.
“A thousand people at a public meeting gets noticed by the government,” he said. “It would be nice if Linda Larson would work with the community, but the pressure that can be put on this government, I think, can help keep the school open. Christy Clark is seen as a very confrontational premier when it comes to education, but she’s going into an election (in 2017) and I don’t think she wants to be fighting parents, kids and teachers in places like Osoyoos.”
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
