Britain, which led the charge for public private partnerships under both Conservative and Labour governments over the past decades, is now seeing problems with the projects. This month the new coalition government cancelled the controversial Building Schools for the Future program. Michael Gove, the Conservative Secretary of State for Education said the P3 school program [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Education'
The U.K. having problems with its P3s
July 27th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · No Comments · Education, Health care, Privatization, P3s & public services
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Some issues arising from the special advisor’s report on the Vancouver School Board
June 6th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 10 Comments · Education, Transparency & accountability
The special advisor appointed by the provincial government to look at the finances of the Vancouver School Board reported on Friday and a number of issues arise from the report. Before discussing these, however, people should be aware that in my day job I am a researcher for the Canadian Union of Public Employees which [...]
Tags: accountability·Comptroller General·Ministry of Education·Vancouver School Board
Message to school boards: Shut the hell up
April 15th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 5 Comments · Education, Provincial budget & finance
The punch may have landed on the Vancouver School Board but make no mistake; BC Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid just took a swing at every school board in the province. The Minister’s imposition of the province’s Comptroller General as a budget cop for the Vancouver school board sends a clear message to other school districts. [...]
Something missing from the H1N1 fight
October 2nd, 2009 · Keith Reynolds · 1 Comment · Education, Health care
When the government announced its plans for dealing with H1N1 in schools on August 24th there was something missing. The government’s “pandemic response framework”, announced by the Ministers of Education and Healthy Living and sport deals with issues like transporting the sick, communications, roles of emergency response teams, school instruction and post-pandemic recovery plans. What [...]
Tags: H1N1
The recent secretive, haphazard spending cuts should be repealed
September 23rd, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · No Comments · Children & youth, Economy, Education, Provincial budget & finance, Transparency & accountability, Women
Almost daily we wake up to news of yet another important program or initiative whose funding has been cut by the BC government. Literacy initiatives, high school sports, programs that protect women and children from violence, arts and culture: hardly an area of social service provision has been spared. These cuts have been devastating to [...]
Tags: accountability·budget·children·deficit·role of government·service cuts·Women
What should our government be spending money on?
September 16th, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · No Comments · Economy, Education, Environment, resources & sustainability, Provincial budget & finance, Taxes
One question that is missing from the public debate on deficits and debt is whether we’re getting the best bang for the stimulus buck. Even if we accept that it’s appropriate for governments to borrow and engage in deficit-financing during a recession, as I have argued here, we need to have a discussion about the [...]
Tags: budget·child poverty·childcare·children·debt·deficit·Olympics·public investment·recession·role of government
And from the department of kicking kittens……
September 10th, 2009 · Keith Reynolds · 2 Comments · Children & youth, Education, Provincial budget & finance
Vaughn Palmer asked the Finance Minister a question in the Budget lock-up on the day of the Budget speech. How about a list of all those programs you’re going to cut? No can do, Finance Minister Colin Hansen replied. You’ll just have to wait until the Public Accounts are published next year. In the Liberal [...]
Tags: service cuts
On tough times and priorities
September 10th, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · 2 Comments · Children & youth, Education, Provincial budget & finance
The BC government cannot afford $130,000 for the budget of BC School Sports, a volunteer organization which organizes sporting events for students. This is likely to affect 100,000 high school athletes across the province whose meets and competitions will be canceled. “It’s not business as usual right now,” explained Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid, quoted in [...]
Tags: budget·children·Education·Olympics·spending cuts·sports
Doing the math on all-day-K
September 8th, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · No Comments · Education, Provincial budget & finance
Amid the corner-cutting exercise that was the September BC budget, there seemed to be a glimmer of hope: actual money was alloted for the expansion of kindergarten to full day. Could it be that the BC government has finally started to get it and is planning to heed its own report on childcare (as I’ve [...]
Why young children’s education and care are not priorities in this election
May 7th, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · No Comments · BC Election 2009, Children & youth, Economy, Education, Women
It seems clear that policy-makers in this province (and country, for that matter) are not prepared to invest in a quality early education and childcare system, despite the proven benefits for children. The reasons have got to be political, as the economic case for investing in early childhood education and care has already been made [...]
Tags: baby boomers·campaign·childcare·children·early childhood education·feminism·gender inequality·health promotion·intergenerational justice·Paul Kershaw·Paul Krugman·seniors·Women
