Coquitlam is the most expensive city for mounting a school trustee campaign, according to estimates of expenditures by candidates in the Nov. 15 election.
In a Tri-City News survey made available to all school board candidates through the popular online service SurveyMonkey, four Coquitlam candidates said they planned to spend $3,000 or more to win votes in the approximately five-week campaign.
Three new candidates whose estimates were in the $3,000-plus category (Chuck Dennison, Shari O'Neill and Jodie Wickens) are also endorsed by CUPE Local 561, whose president Dave Ginter last week said he wanted to unseat current trustees who are running for re-election. One of the $3,000 spenders, Barb Hobson, is an experienced campaigner who was a school trustee from 1996 to 2002.
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Meanwhile, three candidates said they expected to spend between $1,000 and $3,000 - Jodie Wickens, a CUPE-endorsed candidate, as well as Longshu Luo and Larry Ryan. Only one candidate, Rob Bottos, said he would be spending $500 or less for his campaign.
Expenditures for school trustee could result in a big pay day for the winners as School District 43 trustees are the highest paid in the Lower Mainland, a fact that only Port Moody candidate Charlie Loo appears to have mentioned in his campaign material, promising to cut the trustee indemnity by 20% or give the equivalent away to charity if he's elected.
But the expenditures could also reflect the higher than usual level of interest in this year's school trustee elections in the wake of financial turmoil over the last two years in SD43.
This election, 11 people are running for four spots in Coquitlam, compared to five in 2011, and the majority of respondents (five of eight) stated fiscal accountability is the top job of a trustee.
In Coquitlam, Cahoon, Denison, Hobson, Luo, O'Neill and Ryan stated that fiscal accountability is the top job of trustees while Bottos and Wickens stated that lobbying for more education funds from the provincial government is trustees' most important task.
POCO
In Port Coquitlam, only Michael Thomas, a CUPE-endorsed candidate, plans on spending $3,000 or more on his campaign while Chris King, a Coquitlam resident who is also CUPE endorsed, plans to spend between $1,000 and $3,000. Incumbent Judy Shirra also plans to spend between $1,000 and $3,000 while Liam Coughlan will spend $500 or less.
Of the four candidates for two positions in PoCo, three stated that fiscal accountability is the top job of a trustee - Coughlan, Thomas and Shirra - while King stated that lobbying for more funds from the province is the most important job.
PORT MOODY
The two CUPE-endorsed candidates, Jeanette Jackson and Lisa Park, said they plan to spend $3,000 or more on their campaign while incumbent and board chair Melissa Hyndes plans to spend between $1,000 and $3,000 on her race. Loo and Alexander Peter Swistak will spend $500 or less, according to their response in the survey.
Fiscal accountability is the top job of trustees, according to Jackson, Swistak,Park and Loo, while Hyndes said it is supporting vulnerable students and Loo said lobbying. There are two spots for Port Moody trustees on the school board.
ANMORE/BELCARRA
In the villages, which are jointly represented by one trustee, candidates still have to shell out to pay for their campaigns, according to the survey. Incumbent Holly Butterfield, who has run unopposed in the past, plans to spend between $500 and $1,000 on her campaign while Kerri Palmer Isaak, currently a village councillor, will spend between $1,000 to $3,000 and Celia Chiang, a CUPE-endorsed candidate, will spend $3,000 or more. Gwen Chute plans to spend $500 or less.
Of the four candidates for the single trustee spot, two stated lobbying for more funding is the most important trustee job - Chiang and Chute - while Butterfield said it is supporting vulnerable students and Palmer Isaak stated fiscal accountability.
