Responsibility? Accountability?
Watching the Tuesday June 8th news reports concerning the situation the Vancouver School Board finds itself in, the behavior and statements of board chairwoman Patti Bacchus brought several thoughts to mind.
I found Ms Bacchus’s statement that her and the board’s top three priorities were funding, funding, funding appalling and rather disheartening. One can only hope Ms Bacchus’s claim that funding, funding, funding were the top three priorities or concerns of all other school boards in BC was only further hyperbolism.
The number one priority of any school board or school board member should be the students, their welfare and education.
And no Ms Bacchus they are not the same thing. The welfare and education of the students is a far different, far more important matter than funding.
Watching Ms Bacchus’s cavalier dismissal of the report of the Comptroller General, finger pointing at the provincial government and tantrum like insistence on having her own way I was struck by the lack of either responsibility or accountability on the part of the school boards in BC.
I would like to suggest that the province act to remedy this lack of accountability and the ability of school boards to accept responsibility for their decisions and actions.
It is important to preserve the current system of provincial funding for students in order to provide a level as possible system for all students in the public school system.
However there should be put in place the ability of school boards to levy additional funds from the community.
In this way school boards that found themselves unable to live within their budgeted means would have the ability to raise additional funds from their community.
The boards would then be able to cover shortfalls but would be responsible and accountable to their local communities for their fiscal and budgetary decisions at the next school board elections.
There could be, or is that would be, a temptation on the part of the provincial government to try to download education costs. Responsibility and accountability for those behaviors would, in the same manner of the school boards, be assessed, judgments made and sanctions applied by the voters.
Whether it is through the ability of local school boards to raise extra funds or not, it is becoming clear that in the world of limited funds available to the different levels of government (municipal, provincial, or federal) to meet their commitments with, we need to ensure that those responsible for spending large amounts of those funds are, at least to some degree, held responsible and accountable for the manner in which they spend voters dollars.
Explains a Lot.
Watching the histrionics of school boards, parents seeking to save schools or programs from closing and the Minister of Education clearly explains why our schools are failing to provide students with a cogent education.
Education is supposed to develop the ability of students to think, teach students how to learn, to impart knowledge and to prepare students so that the transition from school to the real world does not overwhelm them.
Given the demonstrated lack of basic business mathematical skills; the displayed absence of even a rudimentary understanding of the fundamentals of finance and budgeting; the indication of an unwillingness to accept responsibility or act in a dutiful manner; the fundamental shortfall of leadership and this populace’s direct affect on education – there should be no mystery as to why many citizens feel students are not being provided an adequately cogent education.
To demonstrate responsible behaviour and leadership homelessinabbotsford.com will be providing a series of experimental, real world lessons to teach those cited in the opening paragraph, politicians, those who signed the HST petition and decidedly the media about basic business mathematics, budgeting, financial and fiscal realities.
Lesson One.
Get a piece of lined paper and copy down these instructions at the top of the page; place a line or lines to separate the instructions from the rest of the page.
Get a toonie – the Canadian $2 coin or its equivalent in coin (coins totaling 200 cents).
Go to a store, taking the written instructions with you (with a writing instrument) and select $3 worth of merchandise – for simplicity the cost of the merchandise can fall anywhere in the range of $2.75 – $3.25.
Take the merchandise selected to the checkout and proffer the toonie (or its equivalent in coin) as payment for the merchandise selected.
In the separated second section of the page that contains the instructions, carefully note the outcome of this offer of exchange and any interactions and comments offered by the clerk.
Upon returning home get a second, blank lined page. Looking at the original page examine the instructions and what occurred at the checkout and consider why what took place at the checkout occurred.
On the second sheet of paper write down any hypothesis you arrive at as to why what occurred took place. Make note of any mathematical or financial truths or realities that were demonstrated by this exercise. See if you can ascertain any general business, mathematical or financial rules that would apply in the broader world of fiscal reality.
Our second lesson will contain a review of the outcomes, what knowledge was available to be gleamed from this experiment and provide the next experimental lesson.