School board chair Tim Bennett is welcoming the provincial government's decision to carry out further consultation before implementing a new funding formula.
In releasing a report from an independent review panel, Education Minister Rob Fleming said Wednesday that the process will enter a second phase in which stakeholders will provide advice on how to move forward on the key themes raised.
"We're really with the decision of government to delay the implementation to the 2020-21 school year," Bennett said, adding the board has written a few letters to Fleming asking him to go slow.
"Between the implementation of the new Grade 11 and Grade 12 curriculum, teacher bargaining on the horizon, and without an opportunity to really provide feedback on the recommendations, we weren't really keen on an idea of a 2019-2020 implementation," he said.
He said the next step will be for the board's management and finance committee to take a closer look at the report and its 22 recommendations with an eye to providing comment when given the opportunity.
At first glance, Bennett said he noticed an emphasis on accountability for performance and spending and as long as providing reports on such aspects don't take up too much staff time, he said that could be a good thing.
"There's only one taxpayer and we want to make sure that the money entrusted to us to run the education system here in the region is spent in the best possible way," he said.
Bennett also noticed an emphasis on providing an equitable education system and a recognition that cost pressures in rural settings differ from those in urban settings.
During a teleconference with provincial media, Fleming said one of the goals will be to figure out how to increase the high school graduation rate, which stands at 85 per cent across B.C.
For School District 57, it is 80 per cent, but represents a 6.5 per cent increase over the previous year, due largely to an improvement in the rate for Indigenous students. Steps to that end have including placing an Indigenous education worker in each school, establishing a district level team to work with families and "targeted interventions" to improve literacy rates starting at Grade 2.
"We just came out of an election where we heard from parents that more needs to be done to support some of our special needs students so I hope there is a funding formula that enables us to ensure we're able to meet the needs of those students that are entrusted to our district," Bennett also said.
The full report is posted with this story at www.princegeorgecitizen.com.
