Some candidates for trustee in the Greater Victoria School District have, as part of their platform, a resolution to abolish all “private ventures.” The only private venture in the district is the international student program.

There are a number of positive reasons to host/welcome international students. Here are some main ones: 

1) GVSD has seen and continues to see a decline in enrolment. Hosting international students allows/affords us the opportunity to fill empty seats and keep our enrolment up, thereby keeping classes open, programs running and staff, teachers and support folks, employed.

 2) It allows the opportunity to introduce our own children and students to different cultures and to share the many aspects each culture brings. This broadens and increases the insight and understanding of our Canadian students towards the world as a global community. From meeting and befriending these young people, our students often create lifelong connections and have an increasing desire to travel and explore the world, either before graduation on exchange programs and/or after graduation.

Currently, there are international fee-paying students from 23 different cultures/countries studying in our district.

3) As for economic benefits to the district and the greater community:

a) International students stay in Canadian homestays, which provide a modest fee to each homestay family for the service. We often see lifelong relationships established here as the students become part of their host families.

 b) International students participate and spend money in the community while staying here -- buying clothes and personal effects, eating at restaurants and engaging in leisure-time activities.

 c) For the school district, international students enrolments generated $8.8 million in revenue, of which 48 per cent goes directly to education delivery – i.e. teachers, supplies and services, textbooks and resource materials. Another 30 per cent stays in the district’s general accounts to help pay for maintenance, facility upgrades, computer labs and other such items not funded by the Ministry of Education.

Currently, international resources pay for 42 full-time equivalent teacher positions, thereby helping reduce class sizes, and 19-plus support staff members. The remaining 22 per cent of the money go to a general international office, built to support all stakeholders involved in having these students study in Victoria.

This includes, but is not limited to, accounting services, homestay and cultural support services, event co-ordination, clerical support, parental/custodial support, communication and reporting support to offshore families/parents, plus legal and immigration support to the district as a whole.

These are just a few of the main reasons why we welcome and host international students in Victoria and why it’s important that we continue to offer the program in the GVSD.

Bonita Smith lives in Victoria and is a retired teacher who taught in School District #61.