The Editor
Re. "Your children go to a great school" (The Tri-City News, Sept. 12).
It used to be that a hero was someone who ran into a burning building to save a small child. Now, hero status (in School District 43) requires only an illogical, inaccurate and hyperbolic email by school principal Kevin Akins to Cedar Drive elementary school parents.
Illogical? Where does Mr. Akins think the money taken from his school supplies budget went? It went to teachers' salaries, of course. Is he advocating restoring his supplies budget by reducing teachers' pay? Or can he somehow "make magic" and increase both supplies funding and teacher salaries?
If he had written "We should all pay more taxes," I don't think he would be hailed as a hero.
Inaccurate? Cedar Drive elementary's budget cannot have dropped 87% ($158,000) when SD43's budget for supplies and equipment has dropped just $1.5 million in total (from $9.3 million to $7.8 million) in 12 years. In that same period, SD43 salaries have increased by $57 million. Supplies and equipment expenses have decreased from 4.5% of the total budget to 2.9% while salaries expenses have increased from 89.2% of the total to 90.7%. So exactly who is "doing more with less"?
Hyperbolic? Did Cedar Drive elementary absorb more than 10% of the entire district's supplies budget cuts over the past 12 years? Do the teachers there really labour under "deteriorating conditions" or have they had their share of $57 million in salary increases and made do with a $1.5 million decrease in supplies and equipment? How can Akins state that his teachers are near miracle workers for dealing with "decreasing funding for every facet of the education system" when teacher salaries have increased in both absolute and proportionate terms in SD43?
Akins doesn't mention that reductions in school supply funding since 2002 have been partially offset by schools charging parents for the cost of supplies. Despite a 2006 court ruling, these charges (and lawsuits) continue.
It is especially galling that Akins, now disingenuously notes that "the board office is supposed to deal with the media" and refuses to back up or even comment on his wildly inaccurate email.
Ross Thomas, Coquitlam
