Dear editor,
A comparison of School District 79 (Cowichan Valley) with SD71 (Comox Valley) reveals SD79 has 8,398 students and SD71 10,878.
SD79's average teacher wage is $69,210 to $68,714 for SD71. The district superintendent for Cowichan received a compensation package of $169,123 (base salary, pension benefits, and other expenses) compared to the Comox Valley ($175,001).
Both receive eight weeks vacation. Cowichan has nine trustees at yearly wages of $91,279 to seven trustees in Comox at $64,384 per year.
Cowichan has 438 teachers/42 principals/vice-principals to the Comox Valley's 446 teachers/48 principals/vice-principals.
The average wage for principals is $101,033 in Cowichan to $96,673 in Comox. Total district wages for a year is $55,398,867 in Cowichan to $54,498,528 in the Comox Valley.
Total office supplies and stationery purchases for Cowichan was $369,479 and $72,315 for Comox.
If you look at these figures, note that the Comox Valley has 2,480 more students with less average teacher wage, fewer school trustees and lower wages, lower average wage for principals, less wages for total district and a much lower purchases of office supplies and stationery.
The amazing part is that with Comox having 2,480 more students, the Comox Valley employs only eight more teachers than Cowichan. These figures show that the Cowichan Valley school board is out of control with the taxpayer dollars.
In summary, the average Cowichan Valley teacher wage is also higher than Delta, Richmond, Burnaby, and Surrey. Just nuts!
All 59 B.C. school district financial information available online at kto12.ca.
Joe Sawchuk,
Duncan