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Penticton  

'Barely a drop in the bucket'

The Okanagan Skaha Teachers Union says a one-time $29.4M fund for school supplies in B.C. schools announced today is a “pittance,” that is “not going to help at all.”

“It’s barely a drop in the bucket,” said President Leslea Woodward. “This is $29M that the government took away two years ago with administrative savings, and now they are giving it back…. It’s not new money.”

The school supplies funding comes on the eve of the provincial government’s pre-election budget, and amounts to about $50 per student.

Woodward said school supply lists regularly eclipse $100, driven up in part by administrative savings cuts that have some teachers asking students to bring their own paper to school in some cases.

“I mean it’s something, but I’m really hoping they aren’t thinking this is enough,” she said.

The one-time batch of funding is the latest in a string of similar handouts from the province. Last year the province also announced a one-time transportation fund for school bus services, and the cancellation of a further $25M in administrative savings cuts.

Woodward said that funding uncertainty has made it difficult for the school districts to manage their budgets.

“We need something we know is consistent and will be there every year.”



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