The sudden closure of Pitt Meadows independent school Greybrook Academy last week could have been prevented with some basic regulation and oversight, says local NDP MLA Michael Sather.
He would like to see changes made to the provincial legislation that governs independent schools, to make them more transparent and accountable to parents.
"It's amazing there are so few requirements ... there's almost no oversight," Sather said. "It's a recipe for disaster."
He would like to see all independent schools that receive tax dollars to file publicly-available audited financial statements, and include parental representation on their boards.
Currently, independent schools are grouped in four categories, and receive up to 50 per cent of the per-pupil block funding a public school does, depending on classification.
Greybrook in Pitt Meadows, as a Group 2 school, was eligible to receive 35 per cent, which amounted to close to $300,000 of public money in operating grants last school year.
However, other than requiring the school be operated by a non-profit society, there is little to regulate a Group 2 school under the Independent School Act.
"Some basic accountability would help this from happening in the future," said Sather. "Parents are scrambling to try to cope with this."
Greybrook Academy was owned and operated by the non-profit Vancouver International Primary and Secondary School Society.
School founder Nigel Turner served as the president on the three-person board.
The remaining two board members are listed as Kira and Shelby Turner, who both share an east Maple Ridge address with Nigel Turner.
While Greybrook did have its own parent advisory council, there was no elected parental representation on the school's board, and parents had few details about the school's financial woes until August 31.
A similar situation occurred in 2004, when North Vancouver's Seymour Academy shut amid its own financial troubles.
Both schools were operated by a three-person board with no elected parental representation. In both cases, parents were asked to pay an unsecured bond after the school got into financial trouble. And both schools eventually closed due to financial collapse.
Had either school made audited financial reports available, Sather said, parents could have better known what they were getting into.
"You can't expect [independent schools] to have the kind of deep pockets school districts have," said Sather. "[As a parent], you should be able to find out what kind of financial state your school is in."
Sather would also like to see all tuition held in trust, so that parents who pay their tuition up front don't lose thousands should the school shut midway through the year, as was the case for some at Greybrook.
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