BRITISH COLUMBIA

Bill threatens public education

Bill 6, an amendment of the Education
(Interim) Finance Act, was tabled in the
legislature on July 7, together with the
budget, as part of Premier Bennett’s
restraint program. But this bill is more than
restraint. It’s immediate aim is to render
the school boards powerless and useless.
It’s long-term aim is to undermine the
wholeeducation system in favor of private
schools, and to put public education on a
user-pay basis — in other words, make
parents who send their children to public
schools pay the whole cost. The end result
will be that education will be reserved for
those whose parents can afford it.

Bill 6 gives the Minister of Education the
power to set the budget for every school
board in the province. He will also decide
how that budget will be spent, down to the

Se Ei aN Se MR ta Be ae

last dollar. No school board will be able to
increase that budget even if the citizens of
the school district want to spend more on
education.

The purpose of giving the minister all
this power is to enable him to cut the
amount of money spent on public educa-
tion and to force school boards to lay off
staff whether they want to or not.

Bill 6 destroys the whole function of
school boards. They were set up originally
on the demand of local citizens that they
have a say in how money for education will
be raised and how it will be spent and what
| the quality of education will be in their

districts. If this bill goes through, all that
goes out the window. School boards will be
reduced to virtual appendages of the
Ministry of Education with authority to do
only what the minister tells them to do.

It’s already clear that one of the first

things the minister will decide is to give the
school teachers a cut in salary and to lay
off at least 3,000 teachers. That’s the way
he is going about destroying our public
school system.

The Minister of Education has also an-
nounced that the current ratio of 17 pupils
per teacher will be raised to 19.14 pupils per
teacher, the rate we had in 1976. This
means a big increase in the number of
pupils in each class room. The method used
to calculate the pupil-teacher ratio includes
all teachers hired by boards, whether they
teach in classrooms or not. In practice to-
day many teachers already have 30 or more
pupils. This will now be increased to 40 or
more. The more pupils there are, the less
attention can be paid to each of them and
so the workload of teachers will not only

Harry

Rankin

increase drastically, the quality of educa-
tion will go down too.

Under this new legislation, the person
appointed by the Minister of Education to
do his dirty work will be the deputy
minister who ‘‘may exercise all the powers
of government under the Act.”’ Hein turn
will appoint a budget information officer
for each school district who will give the
marching orders. If parents or school
boards have any complaints, they will have
to take them to the not to the elected
minister but to his appointed hired guns.
It’s a nice way for the minister to get away
from all the flack that will result. It’s also a
convenient way to undermine the whole
democratic principle that elected officials
are responsible to the citizens for their ac-
tions.

The Minister isn’t waiting for the bill to
pass before it is put into practice. He has

already cut the funds for special education
(for handicapped children) by 12 per cent
for the next school year. At the same time

heis giving a generous increase from public .
funds to private schools. He’s informed.;

school boards that they will have their
budget reduced every year for the next
three years. Burnaby, for example, by 1986
will have a budget only 83 per cent of this
year’s budget. And this at a time when the
costs of public education are steadily going

up due to inflation. Any government.

minister who claims, in thése cir-
cumstances, that the quality and quantity
of education will not be harmed is not just
being less than candid with the public — he
is being politically dishonest.

Premier Bennett never told the elec-
torate during the election campaign that he

‘

would lay off 3,000 teachers and take away
all the powers of the school boards. He
promised us jobs and prosperity under
another term,for Social Credit! What can
you say about the political morality of such
people?

The cuts in education funding, the lay-
offs of teachers and school staff, removal
of the right of elected school trustees to
decide on educational levels in their
districts, are all part and parcel of the new
philosophy adopted by the Bennett
government — that of the right wing Fraser
Institute, which in turn receives its funding
and direction from foreign owned multi-
nationals. It has been demanding for some
time that education funds be cut and public
education paid for on a user-pay basis.

Unless we succeed in defeating Bill 6,
public education in B.C. as we know it to-

‘Keep CIP,”
MHR urged

Vancouver city council has urged human
Resources Minister Grace McCarthy to sit
down with city officials in a bid to prevent
the axing of the $1.4 million Community In-
volvement Program, affecting 2,500 reci-
pients and dozens of community and social
service agencies across the province.

Councillors voted Tuesday to send 4
message to the minister stating council’s sup-
port for the program after hearing from
representatives of several community
organizations grouped together as the
Fightback Committee. The CIP, which pays
welfare recipients and others on humai
resources benefits $50 extra per month for
volunteer work, is slated to be chopped Aug:
31.

A report from council’s community sef-
vices committee stated that 42 of 76 agencies
contacted by the Social Planning Depart
ment told of cutbacks and cancellations in
their services if the CIP is cancelled.

The CIP Fight Back Committee, which
includes organizations such as the
Downtown Eastside Residents Association,

_ the Red Door Rental Agency and the

Downtown Seniors Project Society, was
formed at a packed meeting of some 350
community workers Aug. 3, and is a part of
the solidarity coalition fighting the Socred
budget legislations.

DERA marks
10th year

The Downtown Eastside Residents
Association celebrates 10 years of fighting
for tenant rights and community Services,
and against exploitation of Vancouver's
poorest residents with an open-air festival at
Oppenheimer Park Saturday.

Volunteers and those with ideas should
contact the Tenth Anniversary Festival

day is doomed.

Committee at the DERA Office, 682-0931.

er tireless energy, her irrepressable spirit and warmth,

and her dedication to both the student and communi-
ty movements in which she worked won her the admira-
tion and friendship of many of her co-workers. All of
those people were saddened by the loss of Joyce Andres’
when, tragically, a road accident claimed her life on June
30, 1979, while she was vacationing in Europe.

Vancouver residents probably knew Joyce best for her
work as campaign manager for the Committee of Pro-
gressive Electors in the 1978 civic elections, and as a
volunteer for a brief period for the Downtown: Eastside
Residents Association. Prior to that, Joyce achieved
recognition in the struggle for greater accessibility to post-
secondary education as an executive member and
fieldworker for the National Union of Students (now the
Canadian Federation of Students).

Now Joyce’s former friends and colleagues have
established The Joyce Fund, which will do ina limited way
what Joyce had fought for in life — to make accessible to
deserving students a post-secondary education that, in the
days of federal and provincial cutbacks to student aid pro-
grams, is harder than ever for low-income people to reach.

The fund, incorporated as a non-profit society in B.C.
and registered federally as a tax-deductable charity, will
award by Nov. 15 two bursaries — one established in the
memory of Gordon Moore, a former executive of the CFS
Pacific Region — to students who have demonstrated
financial need and a working commitment to a more ac-
cessible and equitable system of higher education. The
fund’s selection committee will also consider those who
have been active in their community, women’s organiza-
tions or other social justice issues.

Applications must be submitted on or before Oct. 31 for
this year’s bursaries of up to $500. Those interested in ap-
plication forms or donating to the fund in Joyce’s memory
shold write the fund at 783—8763 Ash Grove Crescent,
Burnaby, V5A 4B8, or phone 421-5046.

* * *

ome people might think that being confined to a
hospital bed would keep a person entirely out of ac-
tion. But even though he couldn’t operate at full capacity
this summer, UFAWU welfare director and long-time
peace activist Bert Ogden still found time to do a little im-

PEOPLE AND ISSUES

promptu organizing for the Operation Solidarity rally that
drew 50,000 participants to Empire Stadium two weeks
ago.

Bert entered Vancouver General Hospital for surgery to
aruptured disc in his back, an ailment which forced him to
book off work early in July. And, according to Bert, it
couldn’t have happened at a worse time.

With the mass protests against the Socred budget and
legislation growing every day, ‘‘there’s more things going
on right now than there has been in the last six years — and
there I was in the hospital.’’ Bert entered the hospital on
July 23, the day 35,000 Lower Mainland residents
gathered in the first of the province-wide demonstrations
against the budget.

But a good trade unionist can’t be kept down. While ly-
ing in bed waiting for the surgery which successfully took
place Aug. 9 — one day before the massive Empire
Stadium rally — Bert was busy encouraging all the hospital
staff that came within reach to get out and attend what
turned out to be the largest protest so far.

Bert had no idea how many of those he talked to made it
to the rally, but he pointed out that no one was supportive
of the Bennett budget and its effects on the province’s
health care.

Bert received numerous get-well cards and visits from

well-wishers, for which he expressed his appreciation. _

Now at home recuperating, he wouldn’t take exception to
a call or visit, particularly as he gets most of his news
about the growing fightback piecemeal from newspaper
and radio reports.

Bert is doing fine otherwise, and expects to be back on
the job by September.

* *

e’re not sure what to call them, since they don’t

know what to call themselves — but after a stunning

win Saturday over some formidable opposition, we think
perhaps the ‘‘Tribune Tigers” would be appropriate.

Several courageous novices — we blush to admit that no

Tribune staff were among them — donned the now-

famous Read-it-in-the-Pacific-Tribune T-shirts to carry
the paper’s name to the highest honors at Vancouver’s
Strathcona Park, emerging victorious over three other
teams in the first of what are to be an annual soccer events.
Also competing were teams from the Vancouver and
District Labor Council’s unemployed action centre and
two Chilean teams, including the Benceremos Sport
Club.

First to be eliminated, although they displayed that
same fighting spirit they’ve employed on behalf of the
city’s jobless, were the action centre volunteers, who lost to
the Tribune’s name-bearers in a penalty shootout. Subse-
quently the Venceremos people defeated the other Chilean
team in a 3-1 match.

The rest is history. The Tribune stalwarts shut out the
definitely more experienced Venceremos team 2-0, winn-
ing a shiny new cup which will reside in the Tribune offices
until the next match in 1984. That, plus barked shins,
sprained ankles and general aches and pains that we’re told
lasted well into the next week proved to be fitting memen-
tos of a hard-fought victory.

But in a much more meaningful sense, everyone was 2
winner. The registration fee of $50 per team, plus proceeds
from the sale of food and refreshments during the match
all go to aid of Chilean exiles and their families, making all
participants champions in the rupee for a democratic
Chile.

* * *

e noted with pride last week that the newly-commis-

W sioned Soviet freighter, the Tim Buck, named for

the former leader of the Communist Party of Canada, was

in Vancouver on her maiden voyage. Now we have a note

that the officers and crew are collecting historical items

dealing with the noted leader and his times, for inclusion in
the ship’s showcase.

Anything that fits under the general heading of ©
memorabilia — photographs, letters, autographed items
— would be appreciated. When the ship is retired, the con-
tents of the display case will go on permanent display in the
museum in Murmansk.

Anyone willing to donate memorabilia should contact
the Communist Party office, Suite 102, 2747 East Hastings
Streer, Vancouver, phone 254-9836.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—AUGUST 26, 1983—Page 2