[van-announce] Public education petition notice replacement

[Jessica Van der Veen]

Dear Friends- please replace the notice I sent last week with this updated 
version - Thank you very much.   Jessica

A coalition of concerned cititzens in the Greater Victoria School District 
is circulating a petition to restore stable funding to public education.

One time funding announced by the Province  will not allow the current
levels of education services to continue.  For example: these current 
services in Greater Victoria receive 8.8M less than last year.

New funding for public education announced in the budget does not kick in 
until 04-05 and will be less than 1/4 of the provincial shortfall for this 
school year (02-03).
>
>School-based program funding (hot meals, counselling etc.) which supports 
>our most vulnerable students, has been cut by 18%.

>From 02/03 through 05/06 public education spending will increase by 2.4%
This is not enough to cover the increases in the imposed teacher's
settlement for one year, never mind other inflationary pressures.

Funding for private schools is projected to increase by 18.8% in the same 
period.

The petition is available at www.vcpac.ca if you are interested in
collecting signatures or starting a campaign in other communities.  We ask 
that collected signatures be dropped off at 556 Boleskine Road(Victoria) by 
Friday March 7th.   The petition will be delivered the following week.
>
>
>Please spread the word that Public Education needs public support!
>
>Thank You


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