Editor: These are my thoughts on the teachers’ strike.
The BC Liberal government is doing every thing it can to harpoon the public education system in B.C. Why?
Let’s say there is a new corporation setup by a bunch of very close friends and donors to the Liberal Party. Then let’s say the new corporation is called The BC Education Group Inc., and the government helps the new company lease or acquire public schools.
Now if you want your kids to get an education, you have to enroll them in one of the new corporate private schools. The government will give a small payment to each family to help defray the cost. They are already talking about doing this in the fall.
They are so nice to the parents of B.C. kids. This mediocre payment will not continue after the next election. You think education is expensive now, you haven’t seen anything yet.
Meanwhile the corporation will never pay for the schools they acquire, but somehow property title will end up in the corporation. The company value will rise immediately as will the shares.
Now the school and education debt is off the government books and the budget can be balanced. Think of the BC Rail sale.
The law says the government must pay for a child’s education so funds will flow into the corporation, as they do now to the private schools.
This is perhaps not a bad thing, as the education cost to the taxpayer will be for the legally-required education portion and not the infrastructure, the schools themselves.
The parents will pay that part to the corporation.
The teachers will now work for a private company, or they won’t. It will be a very sad day for B.C.
John Winter,
Langley
