Looking at the slick television advertising campaign being mounted by the BC Teachers Union leads me to ask several questions.
1. At present, B.C. has about 40,000 teachers for 556,045 students (Ministry figures). That works out to 12.64 students per teacher. How is this overcrowded classrooms as claimed by the BCTF?
2. Student numbers have dropped by about 42,000 in the past year, part of a trend that began in the 1990s. Why should education funding not reflect the declining school enrolment?
3. In an era when the number of seniors is increasing and the number of school-age students is declining, does it not make sense to shift government spending priorities appropriately?
4. What sort of back-room, under-the-table deal has the BCTF struck with the NDP to induce the teachers' union to spend huge sums of their members' dues on this advertising?
Ralph Allan
Prince George
