The Department of Education recently announced a new staffing formula for Yukon schools, and my grandchildren’s Grade 2 class next year at Whitehorse Elementary School will increase in size by 25 per cent, from 18 to 23 students.
Coincidently, over the past five years Yukon’s budgets have increased by over 25 per cent. Despite having more than $1 billion to spend this year, it seems that the Yukon government is willing to let primary school education deteriorate.
My grandchildren’s education is going to suffer next year as a direct result of underfunding of the public schools in Yukon and the recently announced staffing formula for Yukon schools.
Whitehorse Elementary School will lose one classroom teacher next year and the missing teacher will be the one who should be teaching my grandchildren.
Grade 2 is the year when their reading skills should blossom; kids that learn to read well do well in later years, and my grandchildren can’t afford to fall behind.
Even in deficit-stricken Ontario, more than 90 per cent of JK - 3 have 20 students or less in a classroom.
Something is definitely wrong with the funding of primary schools and the staffing formula, and I expect the Yukon government to fix both.
I don’t want my grandchildren to be missing a teacher next year.
Philip Gibson
Whitehorse