The Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows School District is critical of the government’s plan to cover parents’ daycare costs during the teachers’ strike, saying this strategy will only prolong the labour dispute.
Victoria announced that it will use funds saved from the salaries of striking teachers to pay parents of students under 13 years old $40 per day.
The letter, signed by board chair Mike Murray, said the funds should be retained by the government to ultimately pay teachers and be used in the education system.
School District 42 has made budget cuts of approximately $5 million in each of the past two years.
“In our view, taking that step removes and important tool from the bargaining team to end this impasse and achieve a longer term benefit for students in the form of increased learning improvement funding.”
The letter ended by saying the local school board is “very concerned that the government plan was developed without any consultation with the B.C. School Trustees Association or boards of education despite our co-governance role.
“This kind of unilateral decision making is not helpful at a time when we have been working to improve the co-governance relationship.”
It was also sent to local MLAs Doug Bing (Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows) and Marc Dalton (Maple Ridge-Mission).