Burnaby Citizens Association trustee candidates gained a formidable ally this week, after the local teachers’ union voted to endorse the civic party’s entire school board slate.
“It is important to Burnaby teachers that our trustees are advocates for a properly funded, inclusive public education for every student,” teachers’ association president Rae Figursky told the NOW.
She said staff reps voted at a meeting Tuesday to endorse incumbent trustees Ron Burton, Meiling Chia, Larry Hayes, Baljinder Narang, Harman Pandher and Gary Wong, along with first-time BCA candidate Katrina Chen, for the seven school board seats.
“These are people who are clear in everything they’ve said that they want to work with us,” Figursky said.
This is the second time the union has thrown its support behind the BCA.
In 2011, Figursky said the union saw clear differences between the BCA, which has dominated both the school board and city council exclusively since 2008 and held a majority on both since 1987, and Burnaby Parents’ Voice.
The latter party had grown out of an ad-hoc group opposed to the school board’s 2011 anti-homophobia policy.
“We saw that there were huge advantages to certain candidates and potential disadvantages to others who were running,” Figursky said of the union’s 2011 endorsement of the BCA.
The Burnaby First Coalition, a new civic party looking to unseat the BCA on Nov. 15, includes several former members of Parents’ Voice, including trustee candidate Heather Leung.
But Figursky said neither the school board’s anti-homophobia policy nor Burnaby Parents’ Voice was specifically mentioned during the meeting Tuesday.
“It was not a specific issue,” she said. “But do people recognize people’s names from what they’ve run for before? Yes.”
Figursky was quick to add that not all Burnaby First candidates opposed the anti-homophobia policy.
She said another important factor in her union’s endorsement was candidates’ views on education funding.
“We want trustees who will be fighting for increased government funding,” Figursky said. “Some of the answers we had back from the other candidates was that they would look for other sources of funding. It always makes me nervous when private companies are funding public schools.”
She said the teachers’ union will now be mailing, phoning and knocking on doors until Nov. 15 to encourage local residents to vote.
