27 March 2002
The Honourable Gordon Campbell
Premier of British Columbia
Executive Branch
Box 9041, Stn Govt
Victoria, BC V8W 9E1
The Honourable Christy Clark
Minister of Education
PO Box 9052, Stn Prov Govt
Victoria, BC V8W 9E2
The Honourable Robert Nault
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
Room 549-D, Centre Block
Parliament Buildings
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
The Honourable Steven Owen
Secretary of State
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
Room 549-D, Centre Block
Parliament Buildings
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
Dear Premier Campbell, Minister Clark, Minister Nault and Minister Owen:
Re:
Education Funding of First Nations Status On-Reserve Students
BCSTA is a non-profit, voluntary organization of boards of locally elected school trustees,
committed to strengthening the local voice in public education and to improving student
achievement, representing 56 of the 60 school boards in British Columbia. Most of these boards
educate First Nations status on-reserve students.
I write to bring to your attention a matter that is of great concern to British Columbia school
boards who provide educational services to First Nations status on reserve students.
Following a recent court decision that cast into question the ability of school boards to recover
unpaid tuition payments from Indian bands, BCSTA’s Provincial Council, passed the following
resolution:
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“THAT BCSTA urge the Premier to:
a) Work with the federal government to establish a workable funding system for
First Nations status on reserve students; and,
b) Direct the Minister of Education to immediately cease funding reductions to
school boards that are not receiving tuition payments from aboriginal bands.
Following an announcement that the federal government had ceased, as an interim measure,
providing direct funding to bands unless an LEA was in place, our Board of Directors passed the
following resolution:
“THAT the Board of Directors:
(i) request the Minister of Education and the Minister of Indian Affairs and
Northern Development to include school boards in any discussions about
changes to the administration of education funds in BC region;
(ii) request the Minister of Education and the Minister of Indian Affairs and
Northern Development to take action to ensure that school boards are paid for
tuition owed, without the boards having to resort to costly and uncertain litigation;
and
(iii) urge the Minister of Education to cease withholding funds from boards for
status on-reserve students for 2002-2003; except where a local education
agreement that would cover tuition for those students is in place by the
commencement of the school year on July 1, 2002.”
These motions have grown out of increasing frustration with the funding mechanisms
established by the federal and provincial governments to fund the education of status onreserve students.
We are very pleased that the federal and provincial governments have already acted to stop
funding bands directly where no local education agreement is in place, and that the province
has correspondingly advised that school boards will be funded by the province except where
there is a local education agreement in force covering the 2002-2003 school year.
There remains the substantial problem of arrears of tuition. These funds represent a loss to
educational programs for all students. A recent survey of B.C. school boards shows that a
substantial majority of bands who have been direct funded without local education agreements
are in arrears, some as much as three years and some for amounts in excess of $1,000,000.
We do not have the total amount of arrears; the Ministry of Education has been reluctant to
share that information. However, it is substantial and is particularly significant for some school
boards that serve large numbers of First Nations status on-reserve students. School boards
never supported or assented to these funds being provided directly to bands and look to the
senior levels of governments to take responsibility for these payments to school boards.
With respect to tuition payments under local education agreements, school boards have fared
better but tuition is in arrears under a substantial number of LEAs. School boards have been
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discouraged from demanding security for payment as part of these agreements by both
governments. School boards are understandably extremely reluctant to enforce their
agreements by withdrawing services to students, who are not at fault in this, and in fact no B.C.
board has taken this course. The recent court decision in fact stated that they would not be
permitted to do so. (As a matter of law, we disagree with this result, but this decision would
certainly mean that any attempt on the part of a board to do this would be legally challenged, at
additional expense.)
If the federal and provincial governments are to “encourage negotiations of local education
agreements wherever possible”, as stated in the letter of March 15, 2002 from the Minister of
Education, attention must be paid to workable means of enforcement. School boards should
not be put in the position of having to spend scarce education dollars to collect debts that have
arisen as a result of federal and provincial policies.
We therefore urge your prompt attention to this matter and ask to be included in consultations to
develop more workable funding solutions.
Yours truly,
Gordon Comeau
President