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Strike savings give SD73 funds

"The BCTF strike is obviously unfortunate, but we're trying to make the best of a bad situation," says MLA Terry Lake

School District 73 is getting $1,576,540 through the Learning Improvement Fund to support students with special needs and $282,315 through the BC Education Plan Fund to support struggling readers at school.

"The BCTF strike is obviously unfortunate, but we're trying to make the best of a bad situation by putting all $37 million of strike savings back into the schools, in addition to the original $30 million of Learning Improvement Funds," said Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Terry Lake.

The Learning Improvement Fund (LIF) is targeted to support students with special needs by hiring additional teachers and teaching assistants, providing additional teaching time, and funding professional development and training to help teachers address the complex needs in their classrooms.

The BC Education Plan Fund is targeted to programs to support struggling readers so that students receive the interventions and support they need to develop strong reading skills, which is the critical foundation to success in school.

The B.C. government is doubling the LIF from $30 million to $60 million for the coming school year. The increase is due to provincewide operational savings of $37 million resulting from last month's three-day teachers' strike.

 

All of the strike savings will remain with school districts with $30 million being applied to LIF, and the remaining $7 million to be used by school boards for educational priorities in their respective districts.

– Kamloops This Week