Re: Tax rebate for parents so children can attend private school, Aug. 6 edition.
This is to address the $40-per-day rebate the government plans to give to prolong the teachers’ strike.
What the government is promoting is separation between the haves and have nots. The biggest difference between private schools and public schools is the private schools do not have to take special needs students. The other difference is the funding. So the government is promoting the elite and shirking its responsibility to care for special needs students.
Many years ago there were special classes for students with special needs. Then it was decided that these students were being excluded and they were integrated into regular classes with support.
Now those aides have been drastically cut. Special needs students no longer receive the education they deserve and other students cannot get a proper eduction because of the extra time spent trying to deal with special needs students. It is an impossible situation created by the government withdrawing funding. It is not the class size that needs addressing as much as the class composition of special needs students.
So how does the $40 a day help or hinder bargaining? It doesn’t.
It appeals to those who don’t really understand the problem and helps to continue the strike. So for a part of this school year letter writer Kevin Simoe will enrol his children in private school and then the strike will be settled. Then where is he at?
He can continue the private schooling for his children and be in debt or return to the public schools. The $40 funding will not continue. He will support the lack of education for special needs students and think only of his own children.
Twice the courts have told the B.C. government they were breaking the law with the teachers’ contract and twice they have ignored the courts. We have a government that believes they are above the law and our taxes support this ridiculous situation. Now the government is definitely not bargaining in good faith. Please remember this when you vote again.
Judy Teague
Abbotsford