Freedom of school choice creating two classes of Vancouver students, compounding funding problems: trustee
Posted July 1, 2016 11:28 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A change made almost 15 years ago may be contributing to financial woes for the Vancouver School Board.
East Vancouver families choosing to send their children to west side schools are creating an imbalance.
In 2002, the province started allowing families to send their kids to schools outside their catchment areas, as long as there is space. Many have done that, according to board trustee Patti Bacchus, who fears it’s created two classes of students.
“We’re seeing more of a flow of some schools where there are higher concentrations of, for example, low-income families. You might have other schools where there’s a higher concentration of affluent families and more academically focused families.”
Bacchus feels freedom of school choice is a reason why all but one on the recent list of Vancouver schools up for closure are on the east side.
“I would say that the impact of underfunding combined with school choice policies means that some schools that, for example, have very strong parent involvement [and the] ability to fundraise lots of money were starting to see inequitable opportunities coming out of this.”
She’s concerned the kids remaining on the east side will suffer as the funding follows students to the west side.
