PG School Board Chair Reveals 2017 Wish List
Prince George, B.C. – Prince George School Board Chair Tim Bennett didn’t blink an eye when asked what topped his wish list for 2017.
“There are definitely a few things that the board is really hoping for on our wish list. First off would be looking at the recommendations from the Select Standing Committee,” he said in a year-end interview with 250News.
“It would be great if we were able to see a provincial budget and subsequent budgets that are implementing the recommendations from the Standing Committee with regards to sustainable and adequate funding for public education.”
Prince George School Board Chair Tim Bennett
For example, Bennett said additional supports for “our rural students.”
“School District 57 is 52,000 square kilometres made up of primarily four main communities: Prince George, Mackenzie, Valemount and McBride. But also, a lot of other little rural communities in between,” he says.
“And we want to make sure that students have equal opportunities for public education regardless of where they live in our district.”
Bennett says “predictable funding” in 2017 would also be a nice bonus.
“2016 was a really unique year in the fact that we had five or six funding announcements that came after the approval of the (provincial) budget. And we want to work with government to ensure that we are able to properly plan and make decisions because we know what money is coming.”
And considering 2017 is a provincial election year, he says he’d love to see the province fund a new building for Kelly Road Secondary School.
“Our district does have a capital plan and of course Kelly Road has been at the top of the capital plan for many years (at an estimated cost of $42.6 million) so 2017 would be an amazing opportunity to announce a new building if that was at all possible.”
He says the board would also love to see their roughly $3 million annual facility grant beefed up.
“Our staff does an amazing job keeping our buildings clean and safe but our annual facility grant funding only goes so far so additional funding for that pool would also allow us to do some of that routine maintenance that needs to be done in our facilities across the district.”
Comments
Wishful thinking! But then, who knows. Problem is where is the money coming from? Without the LNG, oil pipelines and timber, we have less income to the province. Where do we get more so we can do more?
News flash:
Top CEOS earn more by lunchtime than the average worker in 2017!
Since 2002, over 250 schools (facilities) have been closed in the province, 22 schools have been closed in this school district alone. So the real question remains to be answered, with all these school facilities closed, why are school districts still coming up short on facility grant funding? Where did all that money saved in school closures go?
It went to repay some of the 66 billion we’ve borrowed. But I suppose we could just keep on spending and give these kids a gold plated education and a debt that can never be repaid. We better make Mandarin a core course because China is who we keep going to for our loans.
As for the CEO’s, they are employees of private corporations, so it’s the shareholder’s problem if you think they are overpaid. That said, half of their salary goes in income tax, depending on the province they live in. If the corporation paid them less, it would be taxed at the lower corporate rate of 24 percent, and distributed to shareholders as dividends, many of which are pension plans and RSP’s, to be taxed at a lower rate and a later date. So it’s quite possible that those obscene salaries actually benefit the federal and provincial treasuries.
26 wealthy Canadians were offered full amnesty from prosecution or penalty after they were caught hiding at least $130 million in offshore tax schemes set up by the giant accounting firm KPMG. But this pales in comparison to the 1,352 corporate “officers” linked to Canada in the Panama Papers documents. Most of us are familiar with the Panama Papers which involves the leak of a massive list of corporations and individuals who are using off-shore tax havens… but then again there are still some, like Ski51, who naively believe all multi-millionaire CEOs pay their taxes religiously.
However, we digress, perhaps our provincial government is funding challenged with respect to public education because of all the money it wasted, in a losing cause, on legal fees fighting the BCTF in courts for over a decade? Hmmm… a person has to wonder what 14 years of legal fees looks like, it would be quantified by the millions of dollars for sure!
BH, let’s not forget about the NDP’s sweetheart deal, oops GIFT to the BCTF in 1999 that started the whole mess in the first place!
“The real cost of Dix’s 0-0-2 BCTF contract amounted to an additional $1.3 billion (in 1990s dollars) for B.C. taxpayers, and it led to the now famous headline, “NDP math: 0+0+2=11.”
ht tp://www.burnabynow.com/opinion/your-letters/keep-an-eye-on-dix-1.411639
“Although the contract was sold to the public as a fiscally restrained 0-0-2 settlement, the arithmetic of the contract terms yielded a very different 11 per cent total, once the province’s school district administrators crunched the numbers. The real cost of Dix’s 0-0-2 BCTF contract amounted to an additional $1.3 billion (in 1990s dollars) for B.C. taxpayers and it lead to the now famous headline, “NDP math: 0+0+2=11.”
So while parents, students and school staff look forward to a relatively normal school year this coming fall, we should also take some time to reflect on the lessons of history and the wonky NDP math that nearly sank this province. And after that it’s time for Dix to break his vow of silence and let the public in on whatever it is he’s got hidden up his sleeve for us this time around.”
ht tp://www.langleytimes.com/opinion/letters/161977095.html
As Nytehawwk stated, once again BH, you only tell half the story!!
This seems to be your modus operandi HG, blame the NDP for the mistakes made by the BC LibCons. Yes, it’s the NDP’s fault the Christy Clark Liberals lost their Supreme Court of Canada battle with the BCTF over class size and composition. Just like it was the NDP’s fault Mount Polley suffered a catastrophic tailings pond breach in August 2014, resulting in the biggest environmental disaster in Canadian history.
Once again BH, you only tell half the story!
Yes, there have been 22 schools closed in School District 57 since 2002, but did you mention the precipitous drop in enrollment in the district?
No of course not! Since we have significantly fewer students in the district, provincial funding which is based on a “per Pupil” formula is also drastically reduced. The School District decided to consolidate students into fewer schools so that the reduction in total funding due to lower enrollment would not impact the classroom or at least the impact would be mitigated.
Actually, he was just asking where the money went. I suggested to pay down debt, because I’m sure BH and others like him would rather we borrow more than we take in taxes, and fund every imaginable social program with no thought to tomorrow. This logic so infuriates the left wing mindset that they always resort to something obscure and not relevant to prove there’s an abundance of cash spilling all over the place to fund such programs.
I can absolutely guarantee that every corporate director and CEO is paying tax on their salary, because the corporation has to withhold and remit to the government the taxes just like they do everyone else. The corporation can’t deduct it as an expense, unless they pay it out.
130 million hidden in offshore accounts, isn’t 130 million of unpaid taxes, it’s how much they hid, the taxes on it would be somewhat lesser – and that’s a Federal government issue, we’re talking the BC government.
People being linked isn’t the same as people being guilty, but to the Liberal mindset guilt by association is all that’s needed. I’ve signed thousands of corporate documents in my life, so I guess I might even be linked.
Private corporations have CEOs but so do certain government run departments, like ICBC, the Ferries, BC Hydro, the five B.C. health authorities, and so forth. Compared to industry their salaries and benefits are less, but still very substantial.
The NDP had a decade of running (ruining) the province. It went through 5 (or was it 6 ?) premiers while steadiky sliding into have-not-status – from #1 in the country! I remember it well! Apparently some aficionados are still in denial.
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT #1: The BC Liberals claim that thousands of people left BC in the 1990s under the NDP government because there were no jobs. That claim is a Liberal fabrication, and an outright falsehood!
CBC’s Reality Check team started digging deeper into the stats, all the way back to 1991 — the year the NDP took office — they found people were flooding into B.C. from other provinces. The trend continued for most of the NDP years in power. In fact so many Canadians came to B.C. during the NDP years, it more than compensated for a drain that began in 1997. During the NDP decade from 1991 to 2001 B.C. had a net gain of 126,000 people.
According to Statistics Canada, that’s double number of people who moved to B.C. during the last decade of BC Liberal government. The figures show under the Liberals from 2001 to 2012, B.C. had a net gain of only 54,510 from other provinces.
ht tp://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/reality-check-who-s-leaving-b-c-1.1369211
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT #2: BC’s credit rating remained stable throughout the 1990s under the NDP. In 1990, BC’s credit rating was AA, a rating that remained in place right through to 1999, when it dropped to AA- under circumstances beyond the provincial government’s control; namely the Asian Market collapse.
ht tp://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/reality-check-b-c-s-credit-rating-1.1400605
Just thought I needed to counter the false spins and failing memories of LibCon shrills on this site about the NDP government’s performance during the 1990s. :-) Your welcome!
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT? For crying out loud Peeps, get over yourself! You are making yourself out to be a bigger joke than what you already are!
Public Service Announcement! Seriously Dude, who do you think you are? What a laugh, haha!
And about that “have not” province thing:
“B.C. joins have-not provinces”
ht tp://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/bc-joins-have-not-provinces/article1021327/
Actually, if anyone here wants a real laugh, just read the opinions and predictions of HG, slinky, sparrow, and some of the other delusional right wingers in the comments section of the following 250news article… now that is funny stuff!
ht tps://www.250news.com/2015/04/30/bctf-will-take-case-to-supreme-court-of-canada/
BH< I couldn't help noticing that you haven't commented on my post about BC being a "have not" province!
What's the matter? I thought that you advocated for "Facts and Truths"! Oh wait, that was People#1, or was it Peeps? Or was it somebody else? I just can't keep up with all of your alter egos!
Isn't it just about time for you to quietly disappear, only to reappear under yet another name?
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