On the upside, the province has come through in handing some money back to Alberta school boards.
On the downside, even an influx of $420,000 isn’t helping the Canadian Rockies Public Schools (CRPS) find its way back into the black. After all, in May, CRPS made $1.3 million in cuts after a $1.6 million shortfall due to provincial cuts.
Now, it’s clear, lack of students is also causing financial hardship for the school division.
Amidst the school board’s woes, though, it is interesting to note that while some people still eye our valley as an ideal location for re-location, students (and we assume families) continue to vacate the area.
There are a couple of disturbing qualities to news that enrolment continues to dwindle.
One is that as enrolment continues to decline, so does provincial funding, which means CRPS will continue to struggle with balancing its books. The fact that budgets are set before enrolment is known is just another problem that needs to be addressed.
Another is that, beyond school board woes, there is the idea that as families/students leave the valley, so does the spirit of community.
If the old saying ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ has any truth in it, it then goes without saying that there needs to be some children in that village to begin with. Bow Valley communities need families to keep them strong.
At the same time as enrolment numbers are dwindling, there has been much talk lately of what is best in regard to tourism in the area. Much is always made of what will best attract tourists and their dollars to this area.
While terms like ‘branding’, and quotes such as ‘we can’t be a success until the destination is a success’ are bandied about regularly, we believe there has to be more to the Bow Valley than providing a home away from home for visitors.
We believe tourism expert Roger Brooks (Page 4) may well have most squarely hit the nail on the head in regard to tourism in the valley when he said an outstanding destination considers its own community first and the visitors will follow.
While attracting tourists is important to the local economy, first and foremost, the valley has to be home. When discussing tourism and ways to attract visitors, let’s keep in mind that some people just plain live here because they love it. To many residents, the Bow Valley is a success – they live here, work here, their kids are educated here, they recreate here…
Just to clarify…
In followup to last week’s editorial regarding some fraudulent letters to the editor we received in regard to helicopter noise, we’d like to point out that we realize not ALL letters about noise have been false.
Letters regarding increased helicopter noise have trickled in for some time now – from citizens who feel they have legitimate complaints. The reason for the editorial, and the suggestion of a campaign, came as the result of a sudden flurry of noise-related letters, which included the fraudulent ones.
And yes, we realize there are those, too, who find noise from the Trans-Canada Highway and the railway to be unbearable and have complained in the past.
As with many complaints we receive in letter form here at RMO, it’s clear that what bothers one person does not bother others and we are not disputing that past noise complaints are valid.
Noise, duration and frequency of flights, etc. will be part of the upcoming negotiation for the heliport lease renewal. And if Alpine Helicopters ends up installing quiet tail rotors, the problem may become moot/mute.
