The needs of rural schools, the ability of school boards to localize collective bargaining, funding shortfalls and whether teachers should be penalized monetarily for their job action were among the topics discussed Wednesday night at an all-candidates forum for District 57 school trustees.
Several of the questions put to the candidates dealt with funding shortfalls the district faces and how schools will cope with an increase in the number of special needs students that are creating problems for teachers due to a lack of support staff.
Don Sabo said he would be willing to support a needs budget that would determine how funds will be allocated to the schools.
"Once we agree on that level of service for our children and the costs come in and they are over that, I would be more than willing to support a needs budget to the provincial government," Sabo said. "This district, as far as funding goes, has been cut through the back and it's been cut into the meat. We are an anemic public education system right now."
Kris Benson promised he would provide a voice for rural schools struggling with declining enrollments and busing issues. That, he said, starts with listening to their concerns.
"If the rural school voice is not being heard at the table then we've got the biggest issue around," Benson said. "First of all we need to find out where they feel they are lacking in support and hear in their own words what they would like for support. The school closures we've had in the past decade, a number of them have been completely unnecessary. The rural schools have been hardest hit by this. There are situations where students are being bused for hours in the morning and hours in the evening and this is degrading the level of learning the students get."
On the issue of school closures, Kate Cooke said: "We need to see more consultations, more openness and we need to start assessing schools in different ways," said Cooke. "I watched the school closures in 2010 and the board did not really look at alternatives, they did it at the last minute and parents didn't have enough time to come up with other solutions and their solutions weren't heard."
On the issue of a proposed 15 per cent salary rollback for teachers not performing certain services as a result of the current teacher labour dispute, incumbent trustee Rhonda White was dead-set against such a proposal.
"I personally do not believe it's appropriate to ask for anyone to ask 15 per cent back on anyone's pay," White said. "I understand it's before the labour relations board and as a current sitting member of the board I can't get into detail with regards to this issue, but personally I do not support it."
Andrew Burton stressed the need for more localized collective bargaining for teachers on non-monetary items to better suit the needs of individual school board.
"Local issues don't get addressed," said Burton. "We end up with a bargaining agreement that essentially is made with the Lower Mainland, not with the North."
Earl Krushelnicki also supported a switch to more localized bargaining. "I think the issues we have here in Prince George and the surrounding area for our teachers should be handled here and not sent off some place else," Krushelnicki said. "There are different things happening here than there are in Surrey."
Incumbent Valentine Crawford spoke out against the provincial government's Bill 12, which would eliminate locally-elected school boards.
"I think it's time to scrap, don't you?" Valentine said. "The existence of trustees is that education reflects our communities and frankly that's unacceptable that this would even be considered, that this is the last time trustee elections ever happen. It's hugely important that parents and families have a huge say in how the education system looks."
About 130 people attended. The final all-candidates forum is scheduled for Monday in Mackenzie. Trustee candidate Bal Gill was absent from Wednesday's forum and will be unable to carry out his campaign duties due to a death in the family. However, his name will be on the trustee ballot on the day of the vote, Nov. 19.
