BC increasing public school funding for Indigenous education

Students, teachers and support staff will be better supported this year with an additional $204 million in operating and special grants being distributed to public school districts from the Government of B.C.

This is on top of more than $6.3 billion being provided from preliminary estimates in March, and is the result of an increase of more than 10,500 students in B.C. public schools this past September. The increase includes:

* an additional $69.6 million for students with special needs, an 11.1% increase;

* an additional $7.5 million targeted for Indigenous education, an 8.2% increase; and

* an additional $3.7 million for English and French Language Learning (ELL/FLL), a 3.6% increase.

The overall number of students in B.C. increased this year to over 667,000, the highest since 2004. This includes a net increase of about 10,400 students who moved to B.C. from outside of the province. In addition, there was a net increase of nearly 1,000 students moving from independent to public education this past September.

The amount of money school districts is receiving to support Indigenous learners and students with special needs is also increasing for the 2021-22 school year. Targeted funding for Indigenous learners is $98.4 million in 2021-22, an increase of $28.8 million (41.3%) since the 2016-17 school year.