Rural Schools

"A consultative examination of the current allocation system would benefit rural B.C. students, parents and communities."
Report of the Task Force on Rural Education

The Task Force, appointed in September 2002, submitted its report to Education Minister Christy Clark on January 15, 2003, but it took government until May 1st to respond and make the report public. The inadequate response failed to deal with key recommendations and observations made by the Task Force. Part of that might be because of the diplomatic language used by the task force chaired by Jim Imrich who worked for 36 years with the Prince George school district, the last 11 as superintendent of schools. The government that applies the term "heartland" to BC's Interior is tearing the heart out of many rural communities by standing by as their schools close. The BC Teachers' Federation has reported that "45 public schools will close their doors next fall, on top of the 44 schools that closed this year. The overwhelming majority of them are rural schools." It is not good enough to tell communities to look elsewhere for money in order to keep their school. Just ask the people in Wells, or check with the Kootenay-Columbia School Board which has voted to close another five schools (nearly half the schools in the district have been closed).

The first recommendation of the Task Force is that "rural education needs to be valued and nurtured for its educational accomplishments and its contributions to the cultural and societal fabric of rural B.C." Why would the Task Force state the obvious unless it felt the Campbell government is not valuing rural education? The Task Force reported that it "heard the rural school described more than once as the 'heart of the community'."

The Campbell government's mean spirited treatment of BC's Interior is reflected in policies that closed regional forest offices, closed court houses, closed rural hospitals, eliminated passenger service on BC Rail and threatens to privatize what remains. No action speaks louder about the government's attitude towards the Interior than its indifference to the closure of rural schools - tearing the heart out of communities. The new forest policy will put further pressure on those communities with the consequence of even more declining enrollment. Who will want to live in a community where young children have to ride three hours or more over dangerous winter roads in order to attend school? Wouldn't a government that cares act immediately to examine the current allocation system to the benefit of rural B.C. students, parents and communities? A high speed Internet connection is not a substitute for a school.