Needs of urban
schools should
not be ignored

Open letter to The Hon. Anita
Hezn:, Minister of Educatio..

On behalf of the Bataoral
Junisr Secondary School Parents’
Advisory Council Executive, 1 am
writing to express our concern and
dismay at the massive underfun-
ding by the Ministry of Education
of the North Vancouver School
Board for the school year 1992-
1993.

The current system of funding,
instituted by the previous provin-
cial government, may be a crucial
factor in the current financial
diiemma; however, it is not its on-
ly cause. The resulting cutback of
more than $10 million in the
North Vancouver School Board
budget is drastic. As a percentage
of our overall budget, the impact
is far greater than that hitting
other school board budgets, i.e.,
Vancouver.

The principle of equity inherent
in the ministry’s funding formula
is having a deleterious effect on
North Vancouver’s education
programs. It is affecting the
basics. Since 87% of this school
district’s operating expenses are
salary and benefit-related, and
since we have had a fiscally
responsible school board over the
years, our pared-down budget
leaves no room for manouevring
around the many special needs of
an urban school.

In addition, the ministry’s own
initiative, the Year 2000 project,
has created a set of expectations
which cannot be met under the
current funding framework.

We are deeply concerned at the
inequities of the current budgeting
vis-a-vis urban schools. Usban
schools have not only the added
financial costs of doing business
in a large metropolitan area, but
they have the even more impor-
tant social costs of absorbing and

dealing with an increasing large
multicultural population, complete
with its own set of social, emo-
tional, and educational needs.

Additionally, the growth of
harmful and dangerous youth ac-
tivities, including the youth gang
phenomenon, the increased
presence and use of weapons, the
general increase in physical alter-
cations, and other such behavior,
is having a seriously adverse effect
on all young people in our
schools. Never was there a greater
need for the health component,
the counselling component (in-
cluding teaching of dispute resolu-
tion, etc.), as well as for retaining
small classroom sizes to deal with
all the concomitant issues.

British Columbia school
children have consistently excelled
in international competitions in
math and sciences. How can we as
a society hope to keep up in our
quest for international competence
and supremacy in the areas of
science and technology, which the

- government is promoting as our

future source of jobs (and provin-
cial revenues), if we do not main-
tain at least what we do have? It
is not conceivable that our
children will be able to continue
to learn in an atmosphere which is
not conducive to learning.

Please do not reduce the well-
functioning school districts to the
level of the most incompetent, to
the level of the least productive.
Rather, encourage those that are
doing well to flourish, to lead the
way for the others to follow, and
thus enable our British Columbia
students to retain our competitive
edge in not only the educational
process but in our leadesship in
society as well.

Kim Collett, president
Balmoral Junior Secondary Schoot
Parents’ Advisory Council

Hl dedicated to results.

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MAILBOX —

Sunday, May 3, 1992 - North Shore News - 7

Where have all the birds gone?

Dear Editor:

Paul Hughes in his column of
April 22, writes mockingly of the
Society Promoting Environmental
Conservation (SPEC) and others
who oppose the gypsy moth

_ spraying.

My concern is that the spray

will kill other insects and larvae as
well.

Years ago, in North Vancouver
one would be ‘wakened every
morning by the ci..ping of a great
many birds. Where are the flocks
now?

it’s spooky, an echo of Rachel

Watch “Political Report”
on Shaw Cable 4 to see
Ernie Crist interview David

on current issues.

Cable 4

Friday May 8

Saturday May 9
Sunday May 10
Sunday May 10

Sunday May 10

2:00 pm
10:00 am
4:00 pm

8:00 pm

Carson's The Silent Spring.
Perhaps Hughes can now write

amusiagly of the birds carrying

dead insects back to the nest and

feeding them to the baby birds.
What a laugh.

Joan Kennon

North Vancouver

David Schreck, MLA
(North Vancouver Lonsdale)

7:00 pin

Legislative Office:

Parliament Buildings

Victoria, B.C. V8V 1X4

Phone: (604) 356-3003

Community Office:

140 B Lonsdale Avenue

North Vancouver V7M 2E8

Phone: (604) 986-2254