Education

Education is near and dear to my heart.  I was educated in Alberta.   In our fourth year of marriage in 1970 my wife wisely counselled me to invest in BC by buying the retirement land we now live on.  At the time of our retirement in 1998 we were seriously considering selling the land and staying in Alberta because we saw how poorly the BC economy was being handled by the government of the day.  We did not sell, and are so glad we kept the land and can enjoy the fruits of our labours after all those years of working!  Education got us a great job and good financial planning built on that education.
 
Let’s look at some things regarding BC Education:
 
A record $5.9 billion in public education is being invested during the 2017/18 school year, over 40% more than in 2000/01 shortly after we moved here.  This was done even though enrolment declined by about 55,000 students over the same period.  These greater investments to allow BC to put students first – far greater than those made by the government of the 1990’s – were made possible because of a strong economy and balanced budgets.
 
As for the Supreme Court decision, what really pleased Anne and me is that the current government did not sit back and pout about the decision – they immediately moved forward!  They immediately recognized and acted on the fact that it was their job to work together with the teachers on making our public education system even better. They recognized the relationship between government and teachers needs work; there was the need to build mutual respect and trust. The historic 6-year agreement already worked out by the teachers and this government in 2014 was a big step forward. Today’s government wants to keep building on that agreement by funding and acting on the results of the Court decision.
 
What does this mean to you and me, and the rest of the Province?
 
This last December, BC grade 10 students were ranked first in the world for reading, second in science, and sixth in math by the highly respected Programme for International Student Assessment. We in BC have K-12 students who are some of the highest achievers in the world. BC students are completing high school at an 83.6% rate which is almost 10% higher than in 2001. For students with special needs the completion rate has more than doubled to 66%.  The list goes on!
 
What we need, and have in BC is a government which wants to keep working with teachers, school districts, and families to continue making public education even better; who believe the needs of students should and must come first.  A government that believes in action.  A government who has clearly demonstrated they have a well proven plan which has been acted upon, which has resulted in jobs and a good economic climate that fosters the building up of Provincial finances so the educational actions needed can be fulfilled.
 
It is one thing to complain.  It is quite another to go out and do something resulting in a well-educated public which has jobs resulting from good economic planning and prudent economic actions as demonstrated by the BC government of today.

Jim Edgson