Change to Online Learning in BC

ATTENTION PARENTS: Ministry of Education is about to Limit Online Learning in 2022-2023

Is your child taking an online course? Or planning to in 2022-2023?

Please read the linked article published by the CBC. 

Up until now, students looking to register in online courses have had to go outside their districts for 2 reasons: 

1.) To find suitable programming specific to the child's needs.

2.) Turned away from their own district online learning because the specific online class the student was wanting to take was full. This has been an issue since online learning started many years ago. 

After these changes are fully implemented, students will only be permitted to take online learning within their own district or an online school that is approved.

A quote taken directly from the CBC article, "The ministry says eligible schools are welcome to apply to be provincial providers, but it's unclear how many will be chosen". 

Another quote from the article clearly showing how this is more of a dictatorship than a collaborative creation .... "The ministry says parents and families are invited to voice their concerns at public forums that will be hosted throughout October or through the online learning website". 

This invitation is not without its limitations. Parents have since discovered that "participation in the forums is limited to two parents from each school".  

The Ministry of Education is certainly doing their job to create the illusion that parents have a say but as indicated by the quotes from the CBC article, the discussion is purposefully limited.

At the end of the day, districts have lost revenue due to students registering with online schools instead of attending brick & mortar. This loss of income (to the districts) is a very big issue and is being addressed by this "new online learning model". Premising this new online learning model is a lack of funding districts are receiving due to students switching to online learning.  

A quote taken from page 3 of the Funding Model Implementation document, which is available to the public states,

"How can the Ministry address the loss of revenue due to students attending classes outside of their home districts"? 

There will inevitably be some positive aspects to these changes however, parents still need to keep a close eye on this as it really comes down to noticing how our choices will be limited and as a result of working to keep money in the districts. 

In conclusion, I am not yet fully convinced this is about adding "student-focus" as the Ministry of Education claims. After carefully reading through all the government website details and documents I am convinced, however, this is most certainly about money sprinkled with elements of control and limitation.