Thank goodness the kids and teachers are back to school and life has returned to what we in B.C. are privileged to call normal.
Now can it really be hoped that there is some sweet payback about to arrive in my mailbox, a cheque for $40 times 13 days equals $520 per child?
Thanks to the misdirected generosity of the B.C. government, that money will go into my pocket instead of into the education system for which it was originally budgeted.
Guess that makes up for just how choked I was with the whole strike, right? For how disruptive the missed classes made life at my house, that $520 will make me forget about how angry I was at the political posturing and manipulations. Maybe it will even buy my vote at the next election. Right?
Not gonna happen.
Truth be told, the strike didn’t cost me personally the whole $520: once I pay off my bills for day-camp and babysitting, some of that cash will be left over. Tempting as it is to pay off bills or prepay Christmas presents, maybe there’s a better way to use it.
Here’s a thought – why not put it back where it came from? School District treasurer Natalie Verigin tells me she can issue a charitable tax receipt for money given back to the schools. And, she tells me, I can specify which school I want my money to go to. Even how it can be directed at that school.
So here’s how I see it. My Temporary Education Support for Parents cheque is dirty money, as far as I’m concerned, because it didn’t belong to the government in the first place to give to me, it belonged to the students of B.C.
So I won’t be out of pocket – I will pay what it cost me during the strike – but I will put the difference back into my child’s school. I will write a cheque to School District 20, collect a receipt for my tax refund (thank you very much!), and feel a satisfied sense of “so there” to Christy Clark.
Join me?
Jennifer Sirges
Trail