Instead of paying school taxes to the government; taxpayers should be allowed to ‘opt out’ and use those dollars to buy their children the education they deserve, and not one provided under the current dysfunctional model, dictated by politicians and a highly politicised and dogmatic left wing BCTF.

Hmmm, I wonder if anyone has thought of buying a old school and turning it into a private school.

Great to see the kids backing the teachers. I hope the kids can now help us to organize a general strike in BC and that everyone goes on strike until A) These facist lieberals are forced to call an election.
B) Strike until the HST is extinquished and we get our exemptions back.
Keep up the strikes and we could force this despicable goverment out of office. They have absolutely ruined this province and need to be forced out NOW.

You need to learn what the word fascist means.

Lol

Sad to see the kids being involved in this. I agree with the comments of :fair comment and he spoke: time to get more options, our kids went to private schools and public schools, it was nice to have a choice, and we are not wealthy in the $ sense.Kids spend more time with teachers than their parents,so consider their influence

Hey matty! In order to strike you need to have a job first…

Once again kids are used as human shields by the BCTF. I wonder how many kids organizing this walkout have read the BCTF’s contract demands of public money, revised or otherwise and can compare it to private sector workers?

Mattyc…..”strike until we get our exemptions back” which exemptions would those be? Were you buying kids clothing for yourself but telling the checkout clerk it was for your kids……

Sure it’s not cheap to live in BC, but it’s still a great Province. I have talked to people that live in other Provinces and trust me it’s not cheap to live there either.

In terms of what should happen with the teachers, I hope they reach a fair settlement and soon. Kids don’t wait to grow up, so getting an education can’t be put off. Now what’s a fair settlement. Definitely not a 15% increase!!!

Funny that they say the students will rally in support of the teachers. Not exactly an unbias opinion. The students don’t pay for this service, taxpayers do. It’s similar to post secondary eduction, students think it should be free. Free post secondary eduction doesn’t work, Just ask Greece!! In other words, there’s no free ride!!

I’d rather pay higher taxes to lower the price of education so more can attend than pay welfare to the ones who couldn’t afford an education. Also, way to go to the students for supporting the teachers! And 15% is just their wish list. That’s what negotiations are for. There’s always a negotiated happy mid wage and it’s certainly not 0-0-0. What a joke. We all deserve an annual cost of living increase.

Now lets do the math.

They had no increase last contract, so 15% represents increases of 2.5% over 6 yrs. I don’t find that unreasonable. What was the cost of living increase over that period?

“Deserve” is what got Greece where it is at today. All these civil servants getting what they “deserve” means more taxes for everyone. Do we “deserve” higher taxes?

mwk is right. BC has the lowest marginal tax rate of any province up until about $120k when Albertas flat tax takes over. Insurance rates are higher. Several utilities are more expensive. The boomers all talk about how its more expensive then it used to be but thats reality. Deal with it.

In this society where we all have opportunities for better education or to chase better jobs in Alberta how can we sit around and complain that we deserve more? Entitlement is destroying Canada.

Maybe some parents can tell their kids that if the teachers get everything they want, the kids parents will have to more taxes to cover that and then there won’t be much disposable income left for the parents to buy the kid Nikes, iPads and the like. Maybe even reduce their allowances. Given the price of gas and associated taxes also maybe the parents will convince the little lardos that they will have to walk to school. But then again, money grows on trees in this town. Right?

RUEZ wrote: “You need to learn what the word fascist means.”

So, are you going to be his teacher? Maybe you can do better than his past teachers.

We have to remember, learning is an activity that is under the total control of the student …. ;-)

An expression which start off with leading a horse to water comes to mind.

“Kids spend more time with teachers than their parents,so consider their influence”

Kids also spend more time with their friends.

Keep in mind the notion of “quality” time. Quality time trumps quantity time.

“Sad to see the kids being involved in this”

Why? This is part of real life. This is an extemporaneous lesson in life. None of this Victoria prepared course material here.

“What I learned during the teacher strike of 2012.”

We can get some of the SD57 and Ministry people to mark the essays.

ok my2bits let’s do the math. I went to the bank of canada inflation calculator and the inflation rate over the past 6 years was only 11.55%.

http://www.bankofcanada.ca/rates/related/inflation-calculator

Plus, in those past 6 years in BC the personal income tax rate has dropped just like Born in BC says. So I might argue that for most of us we actually might have a bit lower cost of living than the 11.55% Canada rate suggests.

So a full time teacher that makes $70K today will make just over $81K if you give them the 5% per year increase. Or put it another way, a teacher averages about 200 working days a year and puts in a 8 hour day. The works out to each teacher making $50/hr.
How many people out there are making $50/hr?????

http://resource.educationcanada.com/salaries.html

my2bits
I think they did get increases in the last contract as well as signing bonuses. Somebody correct me if I’m wrong.

“In this society where we all have opportunities for better education or to chase better jobs in Alberta”

So you think that everyone has the opportunity for a better education?

In my opinion that is a fallacy!!

Family income, genetics, social environment, geography are some of the biggest barriers to people having equal access to both education and jobs.

The amount of education required to do the actual work that most jobs entail these days is generally no greater than it was in the last half century.

More time is being spent getting an education these days than it was 50 years ago for those at the “lower’ job levels. Why? Because the employers can ask for it because the supply has exceeded the demand.

When I moved here from Ontario, the education requirement for mid level jobs was lower here than there. The people were simply not as educated. But, they were no less smart and eager to learn on the job. And so, they learned on the job and employers allowed them to learn on the job.

Those days may yet come back.

You are right boomer. The agreement is available on the net.

15 or 16 % plus $4000 signing bonus last contract

I checked Nechako Lakes District SD 91 on the BCTF site and teachers in that district start at $43,160 and go up to $85,386 per year plus all teachers in that district get the extra 3% Recruitment and Retention Bonus, so top paid get $87,947.58. I beleive that teachers teach about 170 days per year and get paid for 9.1 hours per day. I do not consider $500 per day low pay.
Teachers have been getting salery increase of 2.5% per year from July 2006 until July of 2009. In 2010 they only got 2%. This is all from BCTF website if you can sort through the older stuff they keep there for public consumption. A quote from the BCTF website says “The teachers pension plan: The best kept secret in employee benifits”. Their pension plan is a defined benifit plan and benifits must be prety good, as they keep those numbers from the public eye.

just checked 16 % plus $4000 bonus

Good to see that a lot of these students are smarter and more aware of what is going on than most of the morons on this site!

Just wondering how the uni gets a free ride when it comes to pay, benefits, time off and the almost impossible to get fired benefit, tenure. Just asking? Plus they do not have to deal with problem students as public school teachers. All they have to worry about is how to scam their next climate change research grant.

Ditto seamutt. Tenure breeds mediocrity. Just so ya know.

The students are being brainwashed by the teachers like they used to try to do when I was in school. No suprise.

How much more taxes does everyone want to pay to meet teacher demands? That’s what it comes down to.

In 50 yrs the BCTF has manage 1 negotiated settlement, so it’s not just this Govt they have had issues with, just all the ones that aren’t NDP.

“Deserve” is what got Greece where it is today……

No that is not what got Greece where it is today.

What got Greece where it is today is that nobody paid their taxes in Greece.

Kinda the BC Liberal philosophy, cut corporate tax to 0 then cry they have no money to run government. Just like what is happening today….All sectors of the Province a running flat out, most employers can’t find enough people. We are still paying HST, and yet under this Conservative/BC Liberal stategy, the Province is BROKE!!! Not just in debt, but can’t even run government without an annual deficit!

Clearly the Conservative model does not fill the government bank account like they claim…Even to the point where our BC Liberals are going to rip a page out of the NDP playbook and raise corporate tax next budget. Won’t that destroy the economy, raising taxes on the job creators?

It’s good to see the kids in school standing up for something….something their parents never did as is reflected in the global economy.

Just a few comments. Potjeb says “kids are being used as human shields by the BCTF” I supose it’s much like the the Pro Lifers do is it not? Born in BC and MWK are quick to point out the BC has lowered the personal tax rate. Maybe so but they have also increased hidden taxes. Carbon tax, HST, Hydro rates, ICBC rates, etc. The cost of living in BC should be right up there.