DARREN STONE, TIMES COLONIST Music students from Reynolds Secondary School march across Borden Street on Thursday, April 22, 2021, as part of a protest against proposed cuts to school music programs in the Greater Victoria School District. Similar rallies were held outside several middle and secondary schools across the district, which is facing a $7-million budget deficit. The school board has been discussing cuts in several areas, including music programs, education assistants, meal programs and programs for gifted students. article continues below
Making some noise for school music programs
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Student protesters give Greater Victoria School District an earful on proposed music cuts
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“And that’s a $5-million question, so we think that’s extremely positive for our local context right now,” she said. It’s not clear whether there’s enough funding in the budget to avoid programming cuts entirely, Howe said. Due to the deficit, the Greater Victoria School Board has been discussing cuts to music programs, education assistants, meal programs and programs for gifted students. Students, parents and teachers have expressed concern at the potential cuts, with one class at Lansdowne Middle School holding a roadside concert last week to show its support for music programs. The annual K-12 budget in B.C. is rising to more than $7.1 billion, a hike of about $500 million from the 2019/2020 budget. However, with about $1.1 billion of that being absorbed by wage increases and enrolment, “it’s essentially status quo,” said Kevin Kaardal, president of the British Columbia School Superintendents Association.
In the first eight months of 2020, more people died from overdoses than from COVID-19. Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, opioid deaths have been trending upward. And yet our government of British Columbia has continued to solely focus on COVID cases and COVID deaths, ignoring those suffering from substance-use disease. Their lives are/were important too. Elliot’s life mattered. In June 2019, Elliot’s family endured a coroner’s inquest over his death, in hopes of gaining insights into how his illness was allowed to progress without the proper supports and interventions from medical practitioners and government agencies. Many thoughtful recommendations were developed by the men and women of the jury. An yet, to date, nothing has been implemented from these recommendations.