There may be a new education minister in place but Prince George and District Teachers' Association vice-president Matt Pearce is doubtful naming George Abbott to the post will translate into a change in direction on the way the provincial government treats B.C. schools.
"We've had quite a series of education ministers over the past 10 years and it's been pretty much the same line from all of them," Pearce said Tuesday. "It doesn't seem to matter who the education minister is, the message is always the same: 'highest funding ever, highest funding ever, highest funding ever.'
"We're seeing different things on the ground here, but that's what we always hear from the government."
Pearce is encouraged by news that Abbott has some teaching experience - prior to being elected MLA in 1996, he was a political science instructor at Okanagan University College - but beyond that knows little about him.
Prime among Abbott's tasks will be to negotiate a new teacher's contract with the current one to expire at the end of this school year. "The contract (talks) will open in the spring but we don't expect a lot to happen until fall of 2011," Pearce said.
The Liberal MLA for Shuswap was reassigned from Aboriginal relations and reconciliation in Monday's cabinet shuffle. He replaces Margaret MacDiarmid, who held the post for a little more than 15 months and was moved to tourism, trade and investment.
Abbott is the fifth MLA to take over the portfolio since the Liberals were first elected in 2001 and Prince George District Parent Advisory Council president Don Sable said education could use the same stability more business-oriented ministries are being afforded.
Prince George-Mackenzie MLA Pat Bell remains in forests and range, while also taking over mines, and Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond will stay in transportation and infrastructure, Sabo noted.
"Obviously, the provincial government is sending a clear message to business and to corporations that we are going to provide as stable an investment climate in B.C. as possible," he said. "But on the other hand, when you look at the ministry of education, (the change to Abbott from MacDiarmid) sends that message that public education isn't that important."
But school board chair Lyn Hall noted the ministry's deputy minister and superintendent of achievement remain the same. "Certainly, they know first-hand what's happening in all of the districts and have been part of many discussions that we've had not only in school district 57 but in our northern interior branch of school boards," Hall said.
Trustees will probably draft a letter to Abbott outlining the major issues in the school district, said Hall, including financing for a new school in Giscome, softening the blow of enrolment decline, reinstating annual facility grant funding and supporting all-day kindergarten.
