After two years of decline, the tuition from international students increased in 2010-11 and reached more than $129 million. The revenue from international students has more than doubled in a decade, from $55.5 million in 2001-02. This revenue is the most significant source of funding for K-12 education in BC outside of direct grants from the…

The years of ever-increasing revenue from international students appear to have come to an end. Data show that the number of international students and the revenue they generated rose annually throughout the first years of the past decade; however, enrolment and associated fee revenue for school districts reached its highest level in 2007-2008,…

Each time a provincial budget is released, along with it comes a "service plan" for each of the ministries. It is supposed to be the minister's accountability report. So what's new this year? Unlike some previous plans where teachers were not even mentioned, this time teachers are referred to several times in the report. The purpose for education…

Each budget year the Ministry of Education responds to concerns about chronic underfunding of public education by asserting that the ministry is providing "more funding than ever" during a sustained period of declining student enrolment. While the nominal amount of education funding has increased, this increase has not been sufficient to fully…

The Ministry of Education recently announced the cancellation of the Annual Facility Grant (AFG) for 2009-10, resulting in a loss of $110 million dollars in revenue to school districts. This decision comes after Boards of Education submitted their 2009-10 balanced budgets by June 30, based on expected revenues for the coming school year. Boards of…

This paper reports that the Education Program funding for 2009-2010 in the September 2009 budget update is about $128 million less than the funding allocated in the February 2009 budget announcement. As public-school funding comprises 95% of all Education Program Funding, this will have a significant impact on public education budgets. Instead of…

This paper presents British Columbia Teachers' Federation's (BCTF) research report that has produced tables which allow the BCTF and its locals to consider the prevalence of Salary Indemnity Plan (SIP) claims by school district. While the data shown in this report indicate high prevalence of stress in some school districts, they actually…

A new report by the Centre for Civic Governance of the Columbia Institute sheds light on why districts are struggling to balance their budgets while the Minister of Education claims they received the "highest funding ever." The $122 million increase in the current 2008-09 operating grant fell $15 million short of the $137 million required to cover…

Protecting and improving education should be a top priority for the BC government. Unfortunately, much of this last decade has seen conditions in BC schools worsen, rather than improve. Recent government decisions have just added to existing shortfalls in funding for schools. Unless the BC government reverses direction, projections are for…