After a closed council meeting on June 25, which sparked concerns of government overreach and a continued trend of poor transparency from the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) and its mayor and council, parents of Waldorf students moved swiftly to oppose this action on the part of council. The ensuing “lively public comment” has included attacks on the credibility of a columnist of Pique, denigrating his opinion as “Trumpian” and “composed… in the depths of a heat stroke stupor,” over a piece written in support of the June 25 decision to enforce the provincial requirements for the usage of Spruce Grove Park.
Spruce Grove Park sits on a conditional Crown grant, given to the community to create a public park and to facilitate outdoor recreation. Nothing in the grant stipulated that this land could be used for the operation of an independent school, long-term or otherwise. An independent school is one which “receives Ministry funding and is accountable to the Ministry for the delivery of the BC Curriculum.” The list of BC Independent Schools also includes Brentwood College and St. John’s School, and therefore the term “private schools” is not inaccurate, per colloquial language. Since a “temporary” 23-year municipal lease signed in 2002, Waldorf has failed to secure a permanent location within or near the RMOW. Providing education to 192 students (representing 11 per cent of Whistler residents between the ages of five and 19) at the rate of $14,125 for a Grade 10 or 11 student (tuition plus associated fees), combined with the provincial funding of $5,868 per student, paying for a permanent space for Waldorf with municipal funds has not been considered in the best interests of the community.
Waldorf currently holds assets in total of $1.8 million based on its T3010 filing made with CRA for 2023, and does not operate with a limited budget, despite claims to the contrary. With a total student population of 5,100, School District 48 had a total expense for the scholastic year ending June 30, 2024 of $84.9 million, or $16,645 per student. Meanwhile, Waldorf had a total expenditure of $3.1 million or $20,005 per student (an 18-per-cent difference). Despite this higher per-student funding surplus, staff of Waldorf are under compensated compared to their public-sector peers. The mean salary for full-time employees of Waldorf is $69,743—23-per-cent less than the mean for secondary school teachers in the province. However, it is inaccurate to suggest that this under-compensation is due to inadequate funding; filings show a total revenue of $3 million for 2023 and nearly $3.3 million in 2022.
Meanwhile, other non-profit organizations, such as the bewilderingly under fire Mature Action Community (MAC), which offers support services to members of the community with dementia and whose major source of funding has come in the form of a $20,000 federal grant, are obliged to rent space from Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Church or drive to Pemberton and make use of the community services provided there. There are certainly other non-profit organizations who provide services to Whistler who can tell a similar story.
On July 18, Council reversed course on the June 25 decision, and has extended the lease for two years, now ending June of 2026. Also, all language of this being a “final lease extension” has been removed, leaving the door open for a loud and exclusive minority to dictate the community services available to the many again in two years’ time.
The RMOW issued an additional statement on July 24 to “provide a few points of clarity.” Originally, Waldorf administrators said “the RMOW [had] confirmed that staff will be directed to work with the province to determine if the Crown lease allows for a permanent school in Spruce Grove Park.” But the RMOW has since clarified, saying it will “seek some indication the Province could be amenable to [a usage] change within the coming months.” Also, the RMOW has insisted that, “the addition of another year of lease does not constitute a Council decision to enable Waldorf to stay permanently.”
At a time when Canadians are feeling the impacts of a tightening economy, when academic performance in B.C. is declining, and with income inequality increasing in Canada, this is not the time to be funnelling public funding into private schools, non-profit or otherwise, who meet the needs of the few at the expense of the many. Instead, the parents of Waldorf students should see this situation not as an “us versus them” fight—the Trumpian dichotomy—but as an opportunity to model compassion, compromise for others’ needs, respectful communication, and a sense of community; not just the narrow community of family and friends, but the broader community of the many diverse groups that comprise Whistler.
