They’ve taken an idea, a neo-liberal idea, that devalues - TopicsExpress

They’ve taken an idea, a neo-liberal idea, that devalues education, that is over-confident of fiscal fallacies, and they’ve transplanted that idea here. But it won’t work. It was the wrong time. It was the wrong place. They chose the wrong leader. We are a province of immigrant families, who value a good education for our children, who came here because of the great public education system. We are a union of highly educated teachers who have been galvanized by an unprecedented attack. We are reading. We are writing. We are sharing what we know with each other. This is what we know: Support for student learning is not a salary benefit for teachers. If pipelines are in the “affordability zone” so are students’ needs. Although funding for education has increased since 2002, those increases have been a fraction of the cost of the increases in MSP premiums and BC Hydro costs for school boards. They have not compensated for the government’s insistence that schools buy carbon credits for heating buildings. They have not made up for the $250million gouged out yearly from the education budget since 2002 A balanced budget is a fiscal fallacy. This government has increased the debt by billions since it came into office. If there is money for corporations, there is money for children. Teachers are not lazy and greedy. They are hardworking and have sacrificed much for our children. Ignoring two Supreme Court decisions means that the BC government has no respect for the Charter of Rights or for the law of the land. We are a resilient network of social media connections, exchanging information revealed by hours of research into public policy. We are a growing chorus of parents who have been newly awoken to the effects of 12 years of education funding cuts. We are First Nations grandparents who will not be idle if our grandchildren do not get the kind of education they deserve and that we were denied. We are the parents of students of special needs who are incensed that our children are being cut out of funding for their learning support. We are members of the public who are experiencing moral outrage as we watch our leaders bully teachers and bribe parents and ignore the law. We are taxpayers. We are voters. We are citizens. We know what our duties and responsibilities to the next generation are. We will not watch passively as our province is hijacked by those who value pipelines above children. We have written to our MLAs and received twisted lies in response. We have rallied outside the legislature and have been patronized. We have stood on picket lines. We have written letters of protest. We are not done yet. Expect us. #wesupportBCTEACHERS #bced teachteens.org/2014/08/05/why-it-wont-work-here/