Education

Driving forward, Today's BC Liberals will:

• Continue to expand the open textbook program by committing an additional $10 million over the term.
• Coding for kids in classrooms
• Provide $5 million over the next two years to fund teacher retention programs in rural school districts
• Provide $228 million to fund enrolment growth across the fiscal plan period.
• Invest over $2 billion in capital spending over the next three years for schools.
• Undertake a full educational funding review to ensure rural and fast-growing school districts have the resources they need to educate their students.

Investing in BC kids and classrooms

Our commitments include:

• Contributing $30 million per year to our school system to ensure kids have the school supplies they need to succeed.
• Creating an ongoing capital fund for school playgrounds.
• Working with school districts to successfully implement BC's new school curriculum and providing new technology, lab equipment, learning material and professional development support for teachers.
• Acknowledging that a per-pupil funding model doesn't work for our diverse education system in BC and undertaking a comprehensive review.
• Replacing Surrey portables with real classrooms, building new schools in BC's fastest growing region.
• Working with local governments, First Nations and communities in every region of British Columbia to build new schools and upgrade existing ones.
• Accelerating the seismic upgrade program for BC, making schools safer for our kids should an earthquake happen during school hours.
• Upgrading schools with energy efficient lighting to reduce power consumption costs.
• Building new schools - wherever possible - with made-in-BC manufactured wood products to spur growth and create jobs in our forestry communities.
• Improving First Nations student graduation rates by developing curriculums that accurately and fairly reflect the rich history and culture.
• Providing support for, and working towards, full course offerings in Aboriginal languages.
• Implementing First Nations-focused K-12 education recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report.
• Making mental health counselors available where schools identify a need so children can get the help they need when they need it.
• Partnering with innovative BC not-for-profits and technology companies to offer students the opportunity to learn to code in the classroom.
• Supporting the expansion of digital arts, technology and trades education, and making tools, machinery and equipment available to students.

Increase Funding for Public Education

A BC Green government will:

• Increase funding for our public education system over four years from $250 million to $1.5 billion
• Invest $35 million into public education learning-readiness initiatives such as meal programs
• Provide $140 million over three years to train teachers to effectively deliver the new K-12 curriculum

Provide Real Choice in K-12 Education

In an age when knowledge is widely available online to suit anyone’s individual interests and learning styles, our public education system seems decidedly old-fashioned. And the labour struggles that shut down schools would seem like relics of a bygone era if they weren’t such a recent memory. The problem with the current system is that responsibility for how schools are run flows the wrong way—up to administrators, bureaucrats and union leaders, instead of down to students and parents. We believe that parents are the best advocates for their children’s educational needs, and that teachers who have been freed from the one-size-fits-all model will be empowered to bring out the best in each child. If schools have the right incentives and the flexibility to customize curriculum to the diverse learning needs of children, they can prepare them well for 21st century life.

Instead of funds going to each school district, each family with children will receive a voucher to spend at the public or independent school or home learning plan of their choice

Maintain provincial standards for core subjects such as math and English, but provide greater autonomy and flexibility for schools (public, private, and home schools) to meet the diverse learning needs of children

Primary and Secondary Education

YPP wants to ensure they are being properly prepared for their future. This includes ensuring schools teach life skills and not just prepare children for university.

The YPP will encourage the education system to focus on teaching children: how to access and verify information online, how to use deductive reasoning, learn computer programming, learn a foreign language. and learn everyday life skills like personal finance and healthy eating.

The YPP will also have students to provide opportunities for children to take more field trips and participate in extra-curricular activities like swimming lessons and embrace technology to improve the educational experience for Children

Give Parents and students more educational choice

Distribute funds now allocated per student through a voucher system so that parents may choose the school best suited to their child's needs and family values. This would allow more families to choose the best for their children and encourage the public schools to compete on academics and moral standards. Eliminate the excessive focus on sexuality now permeating the public school system and focus on academics.

Giving priority access to BC Citizens

BC’s new political party, the BC Citizens First Party, today announced that it will require all BC universities and post-secondary providers of undergraduate degrees to give priority enrolment to BC citizens ahead of overseas students. This will be achieved by requiring tertiary educational institutions to set an acceptable lowest acceptable standard mark for entry into each undergraduate course, and then requiring all Canadian citizens who meet that mark to be enrolled first in the course (subject to full availability).