On Monday, February 7th, Education Minister Tom Christensen issued an opinion-editorial in which he wrote: "Prior to forming government, we said that we would maintain and increase education funding. We've done that. Since 2000/01, the Province has increased funding to B.C. public schools by more than $440 million: $305 million for district operating grants and $138 million for special, one-time grants. During the same period, enrolment has declined by more than 29,000 students - the size of a small city."

Christensen is trying to claim credit for education funding announced by the NDP in 2001. In his opinion piece he claimed credit for five years of funding over a four year term.

The most recent $150 million operating grant funding announcement is for $4.025 billion for the 2005-06 school year which the School Act defines as July 1, 2005, through June 30, 2006. Similarly, the 2001-02 school fiscal year was for July 1, 2001, through June 30, 2002. The School Act required that funding to be announced by February 1, 2001. The announcement may have been late (news releases before June 5, 2001 have been removed from the government website), but nevertheless the 2001-02 funding was a decision made by the previous NDP government. If Christensen wants to take credit for that, then he cannot take credit for the 2005-06 funding, which falls after his term of office.

Last year, the Ministry of Education provided a useful table which listed operating grants from 1998-99 through 2004-05. Keep in mind that those years refer to school fiscal years which begin on July 1, not to government fiscal years which begin on April 1. Funding for 2001-02 was $3.77 billion. That means the announcement for 2005-06 of $4.025 billion is an increase of $255 million. That is the increase in the annual operating grant since the Campbell government took power. The increase between June 30, 2002, and June 30, 2005, was $105 million. The difference is important when the increased costs are considered.

On January 27, 2002, Bill 26 (Education Services Collective Agreement Act) passed third reading. It provided that salary grids for teachers would increase by 2.5%, effective July 1, 2001; by 2.5%, effective July 1, 2002; and by 2.5%, effective July 1, 2003. On November 23, 2003, then Education Minster Christy Clark answered a question from backbencher R. Visser with respect to the cost of the salary increases and said: "The approximate cost of the contract over its life is $338 million. Our government funded about the first half of the settlement." The three year cumulative costs and the salary adjustments make it possible for a first year algebra student to calculate how much the annual salary costs increased in school year 2003-04. That was $169.71 million per year. That means that in 2003-04 the cost of teachers' salaries increased by $54.71 million more than annual operating funding. Of course, other costs also increased.

MSP premium increases that took effect in 2002 increased costs in the K-12 school system by $18.3 million per year; heating costs increased for schools across the province as natural gas prices soared; other overhead costs also went up. In his February opinion piece the Minister of Education boasted that $138 million in special one time grants were also provided to school boards since the Campbell government took office. He failed to mention that $35 million was required just to implement changes to accounting policies; don't count that as easing pressures in class rooms. Similarly, other one time grants were tied to specific programs rather than giving school trustees any option on how to spend the funds. The result has been larger class sizes, fewer teacher-librarians, and fewer special needs assistants.

The credibility of the Campbell government is not helped when 99 days before the election the Education Minister tries to take credit for five years of funding announcements over their four year term. Parents and teachers know that education has suffered under the Campbell government. The government should at least be straight forward with the figures and admit what they've done.