If you remove funding from Catholic schools most of those students will be forced to leave the system because tuition (~2000$/year) will increase to about (~$10000/year). Many of these students are supported by local parishes to help them afford to go. With the increase most of these students will be forced to attend public school and the Catholic schools will start to fail with such drastic reduction in student population.

Yet this is your goal since you are obviously against the Independent system. The only problem that arises is that the funding is now being allotted for students at a full 100% in the Public System rather than the 50% that was being allotted in the independent system. Therefore the government is forced to expend more money on the education system increasing costs.

Moreover, you claim that the government has been “.. quietly but gradually increasing funding levels for independent schools..” yet their funding has remained at 50% for the last 15 years. If you are mistaking indexing for increases then your logic says that there should be no indexing for the public system either.

And in terms of the pendulum swinging too far, what polls are you referring to. Your claims also support the idea of a system like Alberta… you choose which system you support with your tax dollars… Independent or Public. Yet no-one is willing to do this because of the loss that might occur for the public system.

Overall it does not make sense to cancel the independent funding system because the end result will be increased costs for an already strained public system that will probably not see any increases in the next year either.

Your article was interesting if not completely accurate.

With this lack of clarity in terms of what families want and what governments are willing to fund, children are getting lost in the chaos. The real problem is that we have not yet had the kind of non-ideological, non-political public discussion on education for children with special needs that we need to have in order to develop choices for families that they can afford and trust.

When community associations for people with developmental disabilities were first formed in B.C. during the early 1950’s, most had education for their kids as the top priority. Mothers shared teaching duties in church basements and helped each other shuttle their kids around the community. Eventually, these Moms and Dads got some politicians to get some funding for them. These early pioneers were so successful in Vancouver with the Oakridge School that they were overjoyed to hand it over to the Vancouver school district as kids with special needs became included in typical classrooms. Today it seems we are entering an era where another Oakridge school is necessary, or Moms will again be teaching their kids in church basements.

This regression has been swift and it will continue as financial resources disappear from the public service sector unless strong family advocates ensure that all children in B.C. benefit from effective, supportive education environments. Good luck to MMOMs in leading this charge – or at least starting the conversation.

Alanna Hendren
Executive Director
Developmental Disabilities Association

Jessica Schmunk

Yes, you are! When you cut the funding, the program goes with it. Does she still not understand that, or is she just lying? I really cannot decide.