Budget
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Public school districts often claim they are woefully underfunded while simultaneously sitting on enormous real estate portfolios.
For example, the Vancouver School Board (VSB) owns 223 properties assessed at over $9.5 billion, including not only school buildings but also apartments, a shopping mall, daycare sites, and more reddit.com. Yet the district regularly faces…
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Reversing the decline of inclusion in BC’s schools
In earlier years, BC school districts made earnest efforts to improve accessibility and inclusion for students with disabilities. However, as funding pressures mounted, many districts began viewing supports and accommodations as costs to mitigate rather…
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Scope of budget cuts USA vs BC
There are many ways to dismantle public education. Some leaders do it slowly, through attrition and austerity, with spreadsheets that flatten need into numbers. Others do it suddenly, with executive orders and mass…
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From Trump’s education cuts to BC’s funding shifts: a comparative analysis
When a government says it wants to make education more efficient, it rarely means more just. The language of improvement—streamlining, restoring greatness, rebalancing budgets—is often the first sign that something vital is about…
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Debility is the design: How engineered scarcity punishes complex children in BC schools
In British Columbia, families are told that public education is inclusive, progressive, and governed by principles of equity. But for thousands of disabled children, school is a place of attrition—where support is delayed…
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What does school funding have to do with collective punishment? Everything.
The phrase collective punishment might conjure images of authoritarian regimes or military retaliation—of innocent people punished for the actions of others, held accountable as a group rather than as individuals with rights, histories, and specific…
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Make British Columbia the access leader for the world
A strategic investment in post-secondary accessibility, equity, and economic renewal could begin today, if there was the political will. British Columbia’s post-secondary education system is undergoing profound structural upheaval. The collapse of the…
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Shop class matters—and not just for future tradespeople
There’s a certain kind of kid—I know because I’m raising one—who can’t sit still for long. Not because they’re inattentive, but because their mind is racing ahead of their hands. These are the…
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Music education isn’t a luxury—it’s a foundation for learning
There’s a moment every morning—maybe you know it—when everything is just a little too loud. The shoes are too tight, the cereal crunches too sharp, and the world feels one decibel away from…
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The buck should stop here: fund BC public education
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…
