Liberals aim to woo teachers to rural areas

B.C.’s education minister provided $2 million on Tuesday to help recruit teachers to rural communities, but admitted a larger review of the financial pressures on schools in remote areas of the province won’t happen before the election.

Mike Bernier said the one-time funding will give incentives to teachers, such as those who teach on call in the Lower Mainland, to take full-time jobs or help others remain teaching in smaller communities in the Interior and north. It could including paying for relocation expenses, temporary housing and travel costs for out-of-town professional development training.

B.C. is expecting to hire more than 2,000 new teachers, on top of 1,100 hires in January, after the province and the B.C. Teachers’ Federation came to an agreement to implement last year’s Supreme Court ruling restoring classroom conditions.

“We’re confident we have, not only with existing teachers in the province and those graduating and those who want to move to British Columbia, that we should be able to fill those jobs,” said Bernier. “But again one of the pressure points is convincing people of the opportunity in rural British Columbia.”

BCTF president Glen Hansman said the money is a start, but will probably be used by districts to recruit out-of-province teachers to fill vacancies in B.C.

“The $2 million is helpful especially in enabling school districts to go out and do the recruitment piece, but we’re going to have to keep talking about more strategies beyond that,” said Hansman, citing possible university loan repayment programs and other incentives.

Okanagan Similkameen school district board chair Marieze Tarr said she was “very happy” with the money. The challenge, she said, is recruiting and retaining specialist teachers for rural districts that can teach a variety of classes, such as French, drama, social studies and high school math.

“Any funding is going to make this transition easier,” she said.

NDP critic Rob Fleming said it wasn’t enough money when spread over 60 school districts, and predicated “chaos about to emerge” for teacher positions.

“It’s not an impressive fund and not anything that’s going to get us anywhere in B.C.,” he said.

Theruralrecruitmentmoneywas only one part of a larger review Premier Christy Clark had promised last year, after a backlash at potential closures of schools in Quesnel, Osoyoos, Summerland, Yahk, Winlaw, Lake Kathlyn, Duncan Bay and Oyster River.

Bernier said that review won’t be done until June at the earliest.