BC teachers want to regulate against private interests in public education

Guidelines needed to protect public interest.

from the BC Teachers' Federation

Delegates at the recent annual general meeeting of the BC Teachers' Federation have voted to call on the provincial government to establish conflict-of-interest regulations governing school districts dealings with corporations.

Private businesses are seeking to profit from public education, and using increasingly sophisticated and aggressive schemes to market technology, textbooks, learning resources and many other products," said Susan Lambert, past-president of the BCTF.

"It's high time we had consistent and clear guidelines to protect the public interest.

After more than a decade of chronic underfunding, schools, parents and teachers face mounting pressure to raise funds through private means to meet the needs of students across the province. Delegates voted to have the BCTF gather information on the extent of funding coming from corporate sponsorships and donations, Parent Advisory Committee fundraising and teachers' personal donations.

"We believe it's vitally important for British Columbians to understand the extent to which parents and teachers are subsidizing the public education system, and how hard individuals are working to bridge the gap between the needs in schools and the funding provided by government," said Lambert. "Our study will document that."

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