Where were you when we needed you?
That’s the obvious message – and reaction – sent by many Osoyoos residents last week when local MLA Linda Larson announced just over $118,000 in funding to School District 53.
This was part of $25 million in funding the Liberal government decided to give back to School Districts for doing what was demanded of them and coming up with significant administrative savings over an extended period of time.
This is the first time Larson has made a public appearance in this town in a very long time and certainly her first appearance since local school board trustees announced five months ago they were looking at closing Osoyoos Secondary School.
Through two public consultation meetings – where close to 2,000 local residents showed up – Larson was nowhere to be seen.
When dozens of Osoyoos residents made the trip to Oliver and filled the meeting room at the local school district offices to try one last time to convince trustees to change their minds about closing OSS – Larson was nowhere to be found.
When asked by members of the media over several consecutive months about why she refused to get involved in the school closure controversy in Osoyoos, Larson said it wasn’t her job, she didn’t want to interfere and the final decision about school closures must be left with trustees at the local level.
For her and the Liberal government to try and save face when it was far too late and long after school districts across the province had opted to close schools, is politics at its very worst.
Despite knowing the paltry $118,000 being offered to School District 53 would certainly not be enough to alter the trustees’ decision to close OSS, Larson commented that it was time for them to get back to work and keep the school open.
“It’s time for them to do the right thing and keep the school open,” she said.
It surprised absolutely no one when board chair Marieze Tarr – no doubt supported by the same trustees who voted to close OSS in the first place – said the paltry amount of funding provided by the province was wholly insufficient and wouldn’t result in them changing their mind.
If the Larson and the Liberal Party were providing adequate funding to school districts across B.C., OSS would still be open.
To pretend they cared long after the decision to close the school was made and to attempt to sway public opinion back in their favour was done in very poor taste.
And the residents of Osoyoos know it and won’t forget it.
The Liberals have finally realized the lack of adequate public education funding has become a lightning rod of negative publicity heading into next spring’s provincial election.
But they moved far too late and offered far too little and it’s going to cost them dearly at the ballot box next May.
The only course of action to keep OSS open – and numerous other schools across the province – is for the Liberal government to admit its mistake about chronic underfunding of the public education system and make an announcement they are going to contribute tens of millions of dollars into the system right now.
But don’t hold your breath waiting for that to happen.
This is the same government that has ignored providing adquate public education funding and placed school districts in dire straights for many years.
