“every time 25 students leave the public system, the BC teachers’ union loses one member.”

Probably not the way it works.  Ontario pitches the school boards $11,450 per student, plus a pile from other pockets for capital expenses, autism and bullying programs, etc.  BC is probably in the same range.  So estimate that 25 students would reduce this largesse by $300K.

Clearly the front-line teachers are only getting a fraction of that.  But pigs will fly before the boards cut their administrative costs or specialty projects, if for no other reason that every manager depends on growing his department to increase his own salary.  The payroll guy isn’t giving up a body because the number of paychecks being printed is smaller, he’s fighting for a bigger budget like everyone else.

So a much larger burden of the cuts will fall on the front-line teachers.

Unfortunately Malkin even with this voucher system in place, the majority of parents here in BC still cannot afford the $20K plus annual tuition for private schools.  So the only real alternative option most of us have, is homeschooling.  Given the option, my children would not survive if they had to be homeschooled by me, so we, like thousands of others here in BC, are at the mercy of the BCTF.

Great article I ran across yesterday, which is the first one I’ve seen which provides a balanced discussion on this latest debacle:

http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2014/06/bctf-and-the-art-of-using-kids-as-leverage/

I, like the majority of parents I know, blame BOTH parties here, and just want our kids back in school.  If ANY other union would pull a stunt like the BCTF has done, there would be a public backlash like no other.  Job action so that our kids don’t get report cards or allow provincial exams?  What would happen if nurses decided on job action so they refused to administer medication to their patients?  Parents are fed up, and are now scrambling to find alternative childcare for the next 2 weeks for their kids. And explain to me how the BCTF always seems to contemplate strike action in June…just in time for grad activities, provincial exams and year end activities.  Not September, not Spring Break, but June.  Hmmm…

Momentous Shifts Happening In BC Due To Latest Teacher Strike

Balance is not an objective.

Correction is more like it.  In BC we are always waiting for the Big One — the Earthquake.  The tectonic plates are always shifting.  The same imagery pertains to our 40 plus years of government/teacher union faceoffs.

None of this is on the bargaining table but much is on the minds of both parties because they are well-informed — by polls, by advisers and political strategists and by research. 

Firstly the research into public service shows that governments are increasingly moving to “fostering” provision of services rather that being the providers — “steering, not rowing” the boat.  Even though unions deplore “privatization” often any such direction is merely “denationalization” of a previous private domain.

Secondly, public service unions, with their powers on site and through collective bargaining have become in effect a fourth branch of government — but unlike the legislative, executive and judicial branches, this sector is not accountable — thus not acceptable as a “ruler” calling the shots.

When all this shakes down, someone will provide some analysis.  But, meanwhile, I will post some of my speculations from recent posts I have sent to media.

The first follows and I attach a very perceptive reply from a G&M reader —

21st Century Despotism — Public Sector Unions
In the 17th Century Montesquieu evolved the principle of “separation of powers” so that governments could be set up “so that no man need be afraid of another”.  The principle has become the basis for many governments to this day.
The three powers of government — legislative, executive and judicial — were to be clearly defined so that no one branch could usurp power.  Checks and balances evolved.
However, the 21st Century has seen the emergence of a new absolute power in the form of public sector unions — a parallel fourth branch of government. They usurp power through aggressive collective bargaining and ongoing rent-seeking.  Collective bargaining is hardly bargaining in any everyday sense because it is secretive and in the end amounts to appeasement for the sake of labor peace.  Rent-seeking is a term rarely used due to its dual meanings, but in economics it means the privileges lobbies enjoy as they gain government favors, and consequently, government worker unions are extra privileged because of working within government itself.
In my view, it is this fourth branch of government that is usurping power, bankrupting our societies, and distorting what good governance is about.

This despotism — actually, a non-violent invasion — should not be something we helplessly endure.

REPLY — DHH — In the Eastern Bloc under Communism this phenomenon was called the Nomenklatura . . . Beware of the socialist nanny state - those who claim to look after you will in fact look after themselves first - as exemplified by our public sector unions and the politicians they in effect control.

[BC is definitely worth watching. I will post more later.  Meanwhile, we are all watching Ontario election results that will also tell a lot about the mood of people toward their government and its handlers.]

BRINKMANSHIP !

BC is end of the line geographically, and hopefully, ideologically as regards public education.. Monopoly schooling in BC has been an ideological battlefield for a century.  Regardless of the political stripe of government of the day — socialist, liberal or conservative — the ideology of the left-oriented teacher union has maintained a steady course — worker-control-of-the-workplace.

Without a settlement this weekend (Jun 14-15) schools are shutdown by teacher strikes come Monday.  “Bargaining” is to go “round the clock”.  Apparently, “public opinion” is still at play and somehow citizens are still in a critical position to make a difference — How?

BCTF appeal to the public now stresses, instead of $1000 teacher shortfall in pay, it’s a shortfall of $1000 per student — it’s all about the children!

Also missing from the usual TF narrative is the demand for government to “apologize”.  This relates to the grievance that charter rights were trampled on. This is still before the courts.

What is different in this round is that another judicial agency, the LRB, has shifted.  Whereas before it blithely acceded to TF demands to withhold Progress Report Cards from parents LRB’s latest rendering is that reports are an essential service.  A somewhat “victory” for parent rights!  A restoration, actually, of a right that was illegally removed!

From a parent-point-of-view, parents should be watching this BC fandango closely.  Yes, at least a century of history is involved — from the time when reading wars emerged to favor “system” interests, to when PTAs were treated as lapdogs, to the ongoing and current treatment of parents as “incidental” to the education mission — these are still in our memory bank. Maybe some of these old, fossilized, class warfare artifacts will decisively be hurled off the cliff!

I will now summarize my recent comment arising when local media (The Tyee) did a provocative piece on MLAs and their use of private schools.

REASONABLE PERSONS AND BC TEACHER STRIKE

[I said MLAs should be asked about policies, not personal matters, and said that a reasonable person, in a legal sense, is a “composite of a community member whose due diligence enables him to make reasonable decisions taking into account costs, benefits and risks”.  While MLAs and BCTF leaders are aware of nuances affecting bargaining, I felt a “reasonable person” on the street would not be aware of some of the NEW insights that have come forth especially as a result of THIS 2014 strike:

1 New types of polls — As parents frantically Google for information about alternatives and independent schools, this Google tally is now being used, besides the usual for-hire pollsters, to inform decisions. Google results are significant.

2 Private/public schools quality is similar — Dan Laitsch, SFU professor, says even as parents look for alternatives, research shows little difference in academic quality between the two styles — other reasons apply in their search for alternatives to the public school system.

3 “One-size-fits-all” creed is a “jealous god” — A petition to stop public funds for private schools already has many signatures.  Names and emails are being gathered, maybe for further campaigns.

4 Who is to manage the system? — Vaughn Palmer on Bill Good (CKNW) show narrows the issues down to two regarding this strike —1) budget and 2) question of who is to manage the system. Bill Good inferred that these issues go back as far as the day the BCTF was first formed. Palmer said the implications for both issues are “HUGE”.

5 A first in 40 years: 3 major shifts by government — Geoff Johnson, ex superintendent, sees 3 momentous moves — the first being to restore control to central government from school boards which increasingly serve as figureheads.

6 Second shift to quantifiable expectations of teacher work — “specific duties of teachers . . . is what teachers are paid to do” therefore, deductions from pay for strike days off were ruled legal by the LRB. (In my opinion, hopefully, that principle would even apply to teaching reading and basic math — yes, “BASIC SKILLS”!)

7 Third shift is government’s challenge to BCTF’s powers — legislatively the School Act in BC (as in the rest of Canada) mandates teachers to belong to a specified union.  Maybe this challenge heralds a new School Act that allows choice of association, maybe even claw-back for that part of teacher fees earmarked for political activity and maybe even a sanction against Sedition in public schools as applies to Independent Schools in BC.

[In a later submission I expect to point out the “changing mood of legislators about teacher unions as part of the public sector and touch on the related Vergara case.]

Enormous pressure coming from school boards association to solve all problems in public schools by taking back $300 000 000 from private schools.