We are entering uncharted territory as we move through the 2020s. Rapid changes in the economy mean that many of the jobs our children will have don’t even exist today, and they will be using technology that has not yet been invented to solve the incredible challenges facing us.
We need to redesign our education system to prepare our children for this future and instill in them a commitment to lifelong learning. For our children to be able to prosper in the world that is taking shape before them, adaptability, perseverance, problem solving and creativity are some of the most important skills they will learn.
Sixteen years of austerity under the BC Liberals has left classroom sizes too large, teacher salaries struggling to compete nationally and school districts struggling to find the funding needed to ensure a quality education for all students.
While the BC NDP have taken some action around the edges, they have done very little transformative work where it really matters. This won’t be something we can change overnight, but it is essential that the work starts now.
COVID-19 has complicated these already-existing challenges, adding new stressors to our education system. While some resources and supports have been put in place, not enough has been done to address the fears and challenges in our education system.
Parents shouldn’t have to choose between their child's safety and the quality of their child's education.
Teachers shouldn't have to worry about their personal safety, and districts shouldn’t be facing uncertainty about whether they have the funding needed to ensure a high-quality education for all students.
With a focus on ensuring public schools have the funding needed to address the challenges of this current school year, the BC Greens education plan brings the age of scarcity in education to an end.
Education quality, safety and flexibility
To ensure a quality education, a safe school environment and flexibility for parents and students, the BC Greens will:
Fund operating grants for school districts to 100% of the grants received in the 2019/2020 school year.
This will help ensure that even when learning from home, students are able to keep a connection to the school they attend and the community they live in.
Public Early Childhood Education (ECE)
To help support the integration of ECE into our public school system, the BC Greens will:
School nutrition program
To help address affordability, to ensure that no child attends school hungry and to better integrate nutrition into our curriculum, the BC Greens will:
- Proposals would be developed by the district to ensure local needs are addressed;
- Funding would be conditional on ensuring the program integrated nutrition into the curriculum and showed how the plan would eliminate the stigma associated with accessing food programming.
Improve per-student funding
We will work with education partners on a long term plan for how BC can improve its per student funding. We will: