BC's new Minister of Education, lawyer Tom Christensen, is said to be less confrontational and less arrogant than his predecessor. The new Minister would be well advised to brush up on his math and not to rubber stamp news releases prepared by the Public Affairs branch of the Premier's Office. News releases on education funding frequently do not balance with official statistics provided by the Ministry. In addition to differences between financial figures in Friday's news release and in the Ministry's service plan, figures on enrollment in the release do not match the official student head count that is conducted by the Ministry each September.

Friday's news release announced that in accordance with the School Act requirement for government to announce next year's operating funds for public schools by February 1st, the 2004-05 operating funding for B.C.'s 60 school districts will be $3.875 billion, up $85 million from $3.79 billion this year. The release went on to say "The amount is consistent with the budget forecast in the ministry's three-year service plan." "Consistent" maybe, but not the same. The three year service plan called for operating funds for public schools to increase from $4.076 billion this year to $4.149 billion in 2004-05. It is possible that the figures from the Ministry's service plan are $200 million higher than the figures in the news release because they include more than is required to be disclosed by February 1st. Minister Christensen can reconcile those figures during legislative debate on his "estimates".

At first glance it may appear that the $85 million increase announced on Friday was a bigger increase than the $73 million increase foreshadowed in the service plan; however, the news release said "The $85-million increase includes $50 million for district operating budgets and $35 million for school districts to implement generally accepted accounting principles." In other words, the operating grants for public schools will increase by less than 1.3% (0.050/3.790). It is hard to believe but $35 million of the increase will be spent adapting to accounting changes; that's a lot for new computer programs and sharper pencils. Schools, just like homeowners, will face substantial increases from BC Hydro next year. Most of the $50 million slated for operating schools will disappear before trustees begin to think about paying staff.

There is room to wiggle on interpreting the financial numbers in the news release, but Christensen needs to do remedial arithmetic when it comes to the release's assertion that "Next year, B.C. schools are projected to have about 574,219 full-time equivalent students, a decline of nearly 6,265 students from this year." According to the official full-time equivalent (FTE) head count on the Ministry's website, as of September 30, 2003, full time equivalent enrollment in public schools totaled 575,642 students. That would make the estimated decline equal to 1,423 (not 6,265) which is less than one quarter of one percent.

Last September the Ministry ran newspaper ads referring to decreases in enrollment only to be proven wrong when the official count was done in September and released in December. The actual decline this year was 4,764 compared to 9,100 used in government propaganda.

According to the news release, FTE enrollment was 587,247 in 2003-03, but the official count for September 30, 2002, was 580,406. The release claimed FTE enrollment of 595,157 for 2001-02, but the official count for September 2001 was 587,197. The decline from 2001 to 2003 using the incorrect numbers provided by the government was 14,673, but the decline was 11,555 using the numbers provided from the Ministry's official count - an error in overstating declining enrollment by more than 25%! It is not possible to easily verify 1998 through 2000, as the official counts for those years are no longer on the Ministry's website.

Christensen could ask his staff to explain discrepancies between figures in news releases and official counts. He could help his credibility by acknowledging that the number of teachers has declined at twice the rate as the number of students with the consequence that class sizes have increased. He should begin his term by saying that it is not a good thing.