Ministry Overview and Core Business Areas

The Ministry of Education's mandate is to enable learners to develop their individual potential and to acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to contribute to a healthy society and a prosperous and sustainable economy. The roles and responsibilities of the Ministry of Education and its partners are set out under the School Act, the Teaching Profession Act, the Independent School Act and accompanying regulations. The primary role of the ministry is to provide funding, establish governance structures, set educational standards, monitor student performance and report results to the public. The legislation and regulations provide the framework school boards need to work with schools and communities in order to focus on the overarching goal of the education system — to improve student achievement. British Columbia's K-12 system¹ serves approximately 574,230 public school FTE's² (full-time equivalents), approximately 62,550 independent school student FTE's and over 3,060 home-schooled children. The ministry relies on its five core business areas to implement its strategic direction and achieve its goals and objectives. The resource information on core business areas is available in the Resource Summary on the following page.

1. Public Schools The ministry provides operating funding to school boards and others to support the K-12 public school system. School boards are responsible for and will be held accountable for improving student achievement and publicly reporting the results. The ministry also provides capital funding for public schools.
2. Independent Schools As legislated under the Independent School Act, the ministry provides operating funding to approximately 352 independent schools. Approximately 10.5 per cent of the K-12 population is currently enrolled in independent schools. The Inspector of Independent Schools is responsible to the Minister of Education for the administration of the Independent School Act.
3. Debt Service and Amortization The ministry provides funding to public schools to finance capital projects including upgrades, renovations, expansions, new facilities and buses. This area includes servicing debt and amortizing school board assets acquired with that debt.
4. Management Services Management Services provides corporate services to operating programs, including financial, budget, human resources, information management, administrative services, freedom of information and privacy services, and general services assistance for the Ministries of Education, Advanced Education, and Skills Development and Labour.
5. Executive and Support Services The ministry provides leadership and develops policy and legislation, oversees system governance, sets results-based standards and accountability frameworks, monitors performance, and reports results. This area includes the Minister's Office and Ministry Program Management.