Staff and parents in the Surrey school district have launched another campaign with the same message as all the others: Students deserve better from the education system.
At a press conference at the CUPE 728 office in Surrey, the union for district support staff was joined by the Surrey Teachers Association and District Parents Advisory Council as the three partners shared their hopes for local students and families.
"The education system is being dismantled piece by piece, and it's happening in plain sight," said CUPE 728 president Tammy Murphy. "Our provincial government under-funds our schools, and our district is making decisions that hurt people we're supposed to support."
Murphy also pointed out the recent cuts being made across the district, including elementary band, a reduction in busing for vulnerable students, a decrease in education assistant positions, StrongStart reductions, learning centre closures and more.
"This is not a strategy. It's a slow erosion of student supports," she added. "The priorities are upside down, and we need action from both the provincial government and the school districts."
As a response, the three organizations have worked together to create a website for the campaign, called Surrey Students Deserve Better (surreystudentsdeservebetter.ca) to encourage the public to petition their local MLAs on increasing funding to Surrey Schools.
Specifically, the STA, CUPE 728 and DPAC are calling on Finance Minister Brenda Bailey and Premier David Eby to look at the funding formula and change it to increase the funding.
"We are calling on the provincial government to increase funding now and for the school board to refocus their spending on putting students in classrooms first," Murphy said.
DPAC is also organizing a rally outside Surrey-Guildford MLA Garry Begg's office and at other MLA offices across the city to gain more public attention. The first rally at Begg's office will be on Saturday, May 17 – a location chosen because his riding is one seeing exceptional population growth, said Anne Whitmore, president of DPAC.
"Our children are getting short-changed, and not just by budget lines or spreadsheets, but by the absence of a plan," she added. "This is not just about money, it's about priorities."
Whitmore is also a parent, emphasizing that students struggling is not at all foreign to her.
"This is not an abstract concept for me. My own family is living it," she said, holding back tears. "I've watched a child who I love deeply struggle because the support she needs simply aren't there. She is suffering, and I don't use that word lightly. She's working harder than anyone realizes to make it through the school day."
According to STA president Lizanne Foster, $3.8 billion more is needed for school districts in B.C. to keep up with student supports and space.
"For children like Anne's, there are thousands of them suffering in classrooms every day," Foster said.
The groups acknowledged that the response they often get from government is that Surrey receives the highest amount of funding out of any school district in B.C.
"Tall people generally have larger shoes. Surrey is the largest school district – of course it receives the most funding," Whitmore said in response to that claim.
Surrey's overcrowding issue has come to a new level since the district can't afford to move the hundreds of portables it has from one site to another.
"Minister Bailey's mandate is to improve the economy of B.C. How is she going to do that when she's not investing in classrooms, in the education system today?" Foster said.
Peace Arch News has reached out to Finance Minister Brenda Bailey's office for comment.
