Dear editor,
School trustees unanimously support reducing greenhouse gases, but frustration with the Pacific Carbon Trust system has boards of education calling for change from every corner of B,C.
School boards invest millions of dollars reducing our carbon footprints; our students engage in projects to do the same. However, these initiatives only take us so far and the timeline of progress is slower than school districts would like, or can afford. Making schools greener takes money.
That is why boards are frustrated with the provincial government’s move to charge them for their carbon emissions and not return those monies to fund innovative projects and necessary retrofits. The move has cost the Vancouver School Board $405,000, Nanaimo $125,000 and Williams Lake, $100,257.44 to name a few examples.
The public would be perplexed, as are we, to discover the government hands over these public school funds to private infrastructure projects including luxury hotels, resorts and energy corporation Encana. Our schools are not eligible for funding.
Schools need to be warm and sufficiently lit for our students to learn. At our recent AGM, trustees unanimously passed a resolution asking government to amend the legislation so that funds paid by boards are used solely for projects aimed at reducing those emission levels within school districts.
Michael McEvoy
Editor’s note: Michael McEvoy is the president of the BC School Trustees Association.
