Education — Key to our Future

K-12 Education Sector

K-12 Education Budgets

Recognizing the importance of education to both the economy and society, the provincial government has protected and increased the Education budget and will now begin to increase funding as the economy grows.

• School districts were provided additional one-time funding of $43 million in 2001/02 to improve student achievement and a further $50 million of one time funding will be provided in 2002/03.
• The budget in 2003/04 will be maintained at $4.86 billion.
• In 2004/05 there will be a budget increase of $83 million and a further budget increase of $60 million in 2005/06.

Enrollment and Per Pupil Funding

The enrollment in schools has been declining since 1998/99. In the 2003/04 school year, public school enrollment is projected to decline approximately 4,700 students (0.8 per cent) from 2002/03.

Enrolment has declined by 18,023 student FTEs (3.0 per cent) since 1998/99 and a further decline of 13,981 student FTEs (2.4 per cent) is anticipated over the 2003/04 - 2005/06 period.

At the same time, the per pupil funding has increased. The per pupil amount for the 2003/04school year will increase $51 from 2002/03 and is projected to increase $139 in 2004/05 and $53 in 2005/06.

K-12 Performance

The two key goals of the Ministry of Education are improved student achievement and a high quality, performance-oriented education system in British Columbia.

The school completion rate is the percentage of Grade 8 students who graduate with a Dogwood Diploma within six years. Over the past six years, the percentage has increased from 70 per cent in 1996/97 to 77 per cent in 2001/02. The ministry's plan is to meet or exceed the 77 per cent completion rate over the next three years.

Further information on performance measures, ministry goals and challenges can be found in the ministry service plan and on the government website.

Post Secondary Education (PSE) Sector

PSE Budgets

The government is continuing to protect funding for PSE and will begin to increase grants as the economy grows:

• 2002/03 spending includes additional one-time contributions of $23 million to institutes for funding of Leading Edge Chairs at B.C. universities and Regional Innovation Chairs at the province's colleges, along with needs in other priority areas.
• 2003/04 and 2004/05 funding will be maintained at $1.90 billion
• 2005/06 funding will be increased by $30 million to $1.93 billion.

PSE Enrollment

Currently, there are 157,700 student spaces in public post-secondary institutions. The private academic degree-granting sector has approximately 8,000 spaces.

The government is increasing access to PSE to create more opportunities for students to fill the need for skilled professionals in the province. Some highlights include:

• adding 2,700 new student spaces in 2002/03,including 825 new spaces for computer science and electrical and computer engineering and 700 new spaces for nurses and health care workers;
• completion of a $45-million Leading Edge Endowment Fund, cost-shared with the private sector, to establish 20 BC Leadership Chairs in the fields of medical, social, environmental and technological research — the first Leadership Chair in spinal cord research has already been established;
• commit $7.5 million to establish 6 Regional Innovation Chairs at provincial colleges;

Supporting research and development through the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, investments in the BC Knowledge Development Fund, a life sciences strategy and a $110 million Life Sciences Centre.

Tuition

Lifting the tuition freeze and allowing institutions to set their own tuition provides greater flexibility in expanding programs and services for students. The following chart shows that B.C. is third lowest among the provinces and below the Canadian average for university undergraduate tuition fees.

Further information on performance measures, ministry goals and challenges can be found in the ministry service plan and on the government website.