The Editor,
Re. "Parents told to keep kids home as labour dispute continues" (The Tri-City News, Sept. 3).
Premier Christy Clark's mantra of "families first" is getting a bit tattered.
The mess in the public education system that her government has created certainly does not look family friendly to me. The nonsense that it has increased educational funding is an outright lie. The additional costs that have been downloaded onto school systems plus inflation are not covered. The misdirecting of public funds to encourage only a select group of families to seek other means (private schools) of educating their kids is in no way helping the public education system.
At the same time, the Clark government is using public money to again fight a court decision that slapped their hands for tearing up a contract that provided for proper staffing in the classroom - talk about a dumb way to spend tax dollars.
Most of the reliable sources I see indicate that educational outcomes in B.C. are high and also indicate that funding here is about $1,000 below the national average. In most instances, employees are rewarded rather than beaten down when they do a good job.
The background for this is high hidden taxes (the money syphoned out of BC Hydro, ICBC, MSP fees, etc.) contributing to one of Canada's highest cost of living areas.
This is not families first.
W. Leipert, Coquitlam
