The Richmond Board of Education is calling on candidates in the provincial election to prioritize public education.
The Richmond School District described, in a letter to provincial candidates, four issues that are "critical" to student and staff success. These are capital funding for two new city centre schools, seismically upgrading schools, recruiting and retaining staff and expanding inclusive education, which includes more mental health support.
According to the school board, the school district is projected to face a continued shortfall of student seats and increasing enrolment numbers. Funding is needed to build two new city centre schools to accommodate the influx of students.
Heather Larson, chairperson of the Richmond Board of Education, said these issues in the school district are most critical in Richmond's education sector.
"These investments are critical to ensuring a safe, supportive and thriving educational environment for all learners and staff in our district," said Larson.
"We call on all candidates to recognize the importance of public education and to advocate for the necessary funding and resources.”
Richmond Centre candidate Dickens Cheung described the issue of crowding in schools as one that needs "utmost priority."
"Education is of utmost importance to our society and our families because an educated populace is the future of our province and our cities," he said.
"We need to work closely with the City of Richmond to accomplish that. We can't just make it a third priority or a fourth priority."
When asked how he would handle the issue, Cheung said there are "many interests to balance," which will take both time and land.
In the meantime, portables could be the "stop-gap" measure to accommodate enrolment growth, he said.
"We need to look for more suitable parcels of land."
Rezoning certain parcels of land aside, Cheung suggested partnering with religious buildings to utilize part of their land as a "creative idea" to get space for more schools.
Richmond Centre Conservative candidate Hon Chan said talk about getting new city centre schools has been going on for many years.
The need for more schools is not just a Richmond problem, he added, saying cities such as Surrey face the same issue.
"New schools are not (being) built as the community grows," said Chan. Schools, he added, should not be an afterthought.
"If we are forming a government, we are inheriting the problem (from) the province and maybe the school board as well. (Something) that they did not plan ahead when they densified the No. 3 or Richmond Centre area. That's very alarming."
The Conservative party will build new schools before or while a neighbourhood is being built, Chan said.
In addition, the Conservatives are promising to "expedite the approval of new schools" -- public and independent schools -- while adopting "compact and urban school models" to reduce land consumption, Chan added.
"We do not like portables. We might be using modular buildings instead of portables in areas where we cannot quickly build schools."
Retaining staff in Richmond schools
Richmond's education system and teachers specifically are being pressured to accommodate more students per instructor as a result of enrolment growth.
The Richmond Board of Education describes educators as essential staff to provide high-quality education and support to students throughout the district.
Retaining teachers and staff has been difficult as other agencies offer more pay, stated the Richmond School District in a letter to all MLA candidates.
Ensuring competitive pay for educators should be a priority in the education sector, according to Cheung.
This, in turn, could attract more teachers from across the province or country to work in the Richmond School District.
"We want to attract talent and to do so, we need to pay them better. This is very realistic. People have to make a living," he said.
"There's no easy solution. I know it's going to cost more money in that way, but that's the only way we can retain talent because training is going to take some time."
Sending students away is not an option, said Cheung.
Instead, hiring less qualified individuals and educators to help with tasks not requiring an education licence or training could also be an option.
"We have to kind of do a full-on audit to see where the gaps are and where the needs are, and then can we properly address it."
Teamwork between the school board, the City of Richmond and parents is also important.
Cheung said more engagement and communication with parents would help build a stronger community in the education sector.
"More communication or campaigns making a callout to more parents to be involved ... will make them feel like this is also part of their duty, in a sense," he said.
"Parents, educators, the school board and everyone all have to work together to make this work. Parent volunteers are a huge part of making this a success."
Aside from funding increases for new schools and competitive pay for educators, the Richmond School District is highlighting the need to fund the seismic mitigation program to make sure schools are safe in the event of an earthquake.
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