In Victoria, the mood is often self-congratulatory. The Ministry of Education and Child Care speaks in the language of record investments and national rankings. The graphs show lines climbing; the press releases cite millions. From inside the capital, it feels like a job well done.
But in classrooms across British Columbia, children are still sitting in unsafe rooms, without support, without adequate care. Teachers are burning out. Families are pulling kids from school. Parents are pleading for help that never comes.
The problem is not just money. It is the architecture of avoidance.
A provincial government hiding behind statistics
The BC NDP has increased per-student funding since taking office, and they are eager to point it out. But these increases are largely restorations of what was gutted under nearly two decades of BC Liberal rule. The budget has grown, yes—but so have costs, student needs, and the complexity of the classroom.
Despite legal obligations under the Human Rights Code and the School Act, the provincial government continues to fund public education as if equity were optional. The system operates under the logic of scarcity. Provincial leaders speak as if the money should be enough, and if it is not, the blame lies elsewhere.
| Metric | 2016–17 (Clark) | 2023–24 (NDP) | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total K-12 public school students | ~536,000 (est.) – “over half a million” | ~605,000 (highest since 2007–08) | interior-news.com thetyee.ca |
| Students with special needs (funded) | 27,260 (designated A–H categories) | 41,361 (designated A–H categories) | theprogress.com www2.gov.bc.ca |
| Indigenous students (headcount) | 57,351 (public schools) | ~72,000 (public schools) | theprogress.com educationnewscanada.com |
| English Language Learner students | 60,359 (public schools) | 76,091 (public schools, 2022–23) | theprogress.com news.gov.bc.ca |
| High school completion – special needs | ~67% (on-time 6-year rate, mid-2010s) | 77.3% (6-year rate, 2021–22 cohort) | news.gov.bc.ca news.gov.bc.ca |
| High school completion – Indigenous | 66.2% (6-year rate, 2016–17 cohort) | 75.0% (6-year rate, 2021–22 cohort) | news.gov.bc.ca |
| Education assistants (EAs) – FTE | ~9,400 FTE EAs in schools | 13,800 FTE (2022–23) – +4,400 vs 2016–17 | news.gov.bc.ca |
| Special education teachers – FTE | ~3,100 (est.) special ed teacher FTE | ~3,800 (est.) – +700 positions (by 2021) | files.eric.ed.gov educationnewscanada.com |
| School counsellors – FTE | ~737 FTE counsellors (provincial) | 1,040 FTE (2022–23) – +303 vs 2016–17 | news.gov.bc.ca |
| All teachers (classroom & specialist) | 32,440 FTE teachers | 37,000 FTE teachers (2022–23) – +4,560 | news.gov.bc.ca |
| Student suspension rate | N/A (not publicly reported provincially) | N/A (not publicly reported provincially) | (No provincial data collected) |
| Restraint/seclusion incidents | Not tracked (no data collected) | 84 incidents reported (2022–23, parent survey) | vancouver.citynews.ca |
| Students on reduced/part-time schedules | Not tracked (anecdotally reported) | High – e.g. K/Grade 1 made up 24% of exclusion reports (2022–23) due to extended “gradual entry” or shortened days | bcedaccess.com |
| Annual K-12 operating budget | $5.6 billion (operating funding) | $8.05 billion (operating funding) | news.gov.bc.ca |
| Inclusive education funding (targeted) | ~$465 million (supplemental Special Needs grants) | $838 million (targeted inclusive ed. grants) – ↑80% since 2016–17 | news.gov.bc.ca |
| Indigenous education funding (targeted) | ~$70 million (targeted Aboriginal funding) | $110 million (targeted Indigenous funding) – ↑58% since 2016–17 | news.gov.bc.ca |
| Inclusive ed. funding vs needs | Covered ~58% of actual special ed. costs (large shortfall)bctf.ca | Covers ~72.3% of special ed. costs (shortfall reduced) | bctf.ca instituteforpubliceducation.org |
| School administrators (principals/VPs) | 2,741 FTE (principals/vice-principals & district admins) | 3,080 FTE admins (2022–23) – +339 vs 2016–17 | news.gov.bc.ca |
| Average class size (public schools) | 23.5 students (avg. K–12 class, 2015–16) | 22.7 students (avg. K–12 class, 2022–23) | news.gov.bc.ca |
Key Differences & Trends
- Under Christy Clark’s government, inclusion supports and funding were constrained – e.g. special needs funding covered only ~58% of actual costs in 2016–17 bctf.ca, thousands of specialist teaching positions had been lost since 2002, and data on exclusions (suspensions, seclusion, part-days) were not tracked.
- By contrast, the BC NDP era saw significant reinvestment: overall K–12 funding rose ~43%, with targeted inclusive education grants up 80% news.gov.bc.ca.
- Over 4,200 teaching positions (including ~700 special education teachers and ~200 counsellors/psychologists) were added after 2017 educationnewscanada.com, along with roughly 2,000–4,400 additional Education Assistantsnews.gov.bc.caeducationnewscanada.com.
- As a result, student-to-teacher ratios and class sizes have fallen (average class size down to 22.7 from 23.5news.gov.bc.ca), and more students with disabilities are getting support.
- Outcomes have improved: Indigenous student graduation rates climbed from ~66% to 75% news.gov.bc.ca, and completion for students with special needs rose roughly 10 percentage points to over 77% by 2021–22news.gov.bc.ca.
- Exclusionary practices remain a concern, but awareness and tracking have increased.
- Under Clark, data on suspensions or seclusion/restraint were not systematically collected.
- In recent years, parent advocacy groups have documented hundreds of exclusion incidents (e.g. 84 restraint/seclusion cases in 2022–23) and frequent use of modified schedules for unsupported students. vancouver.citynews.ca, bcedaccess.com
Parent perception
Despite the increases, many parents on the ground have the perception that things are getting worse in public education.
The system may be incrementally improving on paper, but children do not live in aggregate. They live in classrooms. They live in bodies and for many, the damage is cumulative.
When a child experiences institutional harm—through restraint, neglect, exclusion, or unmet need—it does not vanish with the next school year. It compounds. And as the child grows, so does the emotional weight. The absences get longer, the blow-ups louder, the coping less sustainable. Parents aren’t simply watching systems improve; they are watching their children carry unhealed wounds into adolescence.
So yes—on the ground, it feels worse. Because trauma is developmental. It grows with the child. And even if the school system adds ten more EAs province-wide, it does not undo what has already been done.
This is the human cost of delay. So why is the NDP waiting to fully fund our education system?
School districts as silent enforcers of austerity
Districts like Vancouver are told to make it work. They are responsible for delivering inclusive education, but they are bound by envelopes set in Victoria. They are not permitted to run deficits. They are encouraged to manage, to ration, to triage.
But what they are not doing—what they should be doing—is advocating.
When executive staff at the Vancouver School Board take large raises while downgrading the wages of support workers, they are not merely managing. They are making ethical choices. They are showing the public exactly what they value.
Boards of education are not meant to be neutral bureaucracies. They are meant to be stewards of the public good. They are meant to tell the truth to power.
School-level staff crushed by the weight of a broken chain
Educators, educational assistants, and principals are doing the impossible with what they are given. And when they ask for more, they are met with disbelief, delay, or flat denial. The people closest to the child are often the least empowered to make decisions in that child’s interest.
Many no longer bother to escalate. Many expect that nothing will change. And often, they are right.
A public misled by polished language and passive harm
Most people believe the system is working because they are told it is. Because the damage is quietly absorbed by families who leave, children who disappear, and staff who fall silent. Because the harm is disguised as paperwork, attrition, and waitlists.
Because school boards no longer make noise.
The buck should stop here
It is not enough to point to Christy Clark’s legacy. Yes, her government dismantled a generation of public infrastructure. But this government has had eight years to rebuild it—and we are still waiting.
The province must fund education based on what children need, not what the treasury prefers. Districts must be honest about what is missing and fight for what is right. School boards must represent the people, not the budget. And the public must refuse to be gaslit by numbers that hide real pain.
Because it is the government. And these are children.
The buck should stop here.