A wretchedly bad series of education cuts

The Liberal government's education cuts get failing grades on every count. Politically, they make little sense. Parents vote. Hurt their children's education and they'll be angry.
Practically, they're bad public policy. They hurt the students who most need help learning and developing the skills to succeed in the world.
In the last two weeks, the government has announced three cuts to education funding. None seems sensible.
Leave aside the discussion about core school funding and the problems created by per-pupil grants. These are cuts outside of that envelope.
The biggest is the elimination of $110 million in funding that districts had expected for maintaining schools this year. The annual grants provide for upkeep and capital improvements - wheelchair ramps, classroom renovations and all the standard maintenance needed to keep buildings functional and safe.
Five months into the fiscal year, Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid cancelled the grant program without notice or consultation. Some districts had set aside money each year to build reserves for major projects; they could raid that money to cover needed work, she said.
So prudence is punished. Districts that did maintenance work over the summer, counting on the grants, have to cut spending to balance the budget as required by law. And economic stimulus is abandoned.
Next, MacDiarmid was sent out to defend a decision to eliminate the government's entire $130,000 contribution to B.C. School Sports, almost 30 per cent of its budget. The organization helps support and manage all the regional and provincial sports events for schools in the province.
It's a great resource and a little money produces big results, since teachers, coaches and parents donate time and energy. It gives kids inspiring opportunities to take part in all kinds of sports. (I'm writing as a parent; my daughter learned and grew a lot from the opportunities that remarkable coaches and B.C. School Sports provided.)
And the government cut it adrift, despite all the talk about the goal of improving kids' fitness and health.
Then came the most perverse cut.
At a staged event to highlight $500,000 being sent to schools for Olympic programming - about four times the amount saved by cutting the sports funding - MacDiarmid revealed the grants to parent advisory councils would be cut in half. (Also without warning or consultation.)
They had received $20 per student. This year, it would be $10. The government would save $7.6 million, at the expense of parent councils at schools across the province.
Again, it's wrongheaded. The parent volunteers made good use of the money for books, computers and field trips the students would otherwise be denied because of funding shortfalls.
And it's especially bad policy because the funding, from gambling profits, delivered the greatest benefit to the schools where the need was greatest.
In the neighbourhoods where my kids went to school -- and where Liberal cabinet ministers' children go to school -- parent advisory councils have less trouble raising money. They can get great donations for a raffle or silent auction. Affluent families can be generous and stay-at-home parents can contribute time.
But in an Island town with a shutdown mill, or a poor city neighbourhood, it's tougher for the small parent advisory council.
The gambling grants levelled the playing field, a little. By cutting every school's grant by 50 per cent, the government undermined that. Poor schools are in a deep hole.
Finally - at least so far - the Education Ministry eliminated almost all its funding for the CommunityLINK program. It provides meals for hungry children and counselling to keep struggling students on track. The program will still be funded, but with gambling profits that had been dedicated to supporting charitable organizations across the province.
Meanwhile, the education ministry has reduced its target for better graduation rates.
OK, times are tough. But surely a deficit is worthwhile if it means continued basic opportunities for children, the province's future, and all that.
Politically dumb and bad for the people of B.C. That's poor decision-making by a government.
Footnote: MacDiarmid is a star Liberal rookie -- a doctor and former president of the B.C. Medical Association -- rewarded with a posting to a big cabinet job. So far, it hasn't gone well, whether in spite of -- or, perhaps, because of -- the coaching and direction she has received.