VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – With sore legs and worn shoes, a North Vancouver teacher arrived back in Vancouver today after running across the province.

Ian Cunliffe says he ran the almost 1,000 kilometres to draw attention to funding cuts to education.

He’s not happy kids this year won’t have the same resources students did ten years ago.

The educator says it doesn’t make sense that so much is being taken away from students.

“We’ve lost so many essential services, school libraries, right now we’ve got a provincial government that’s talking about their commitment to early literacy, and I really respect that, but I’m unclear how you can have a commitment to early literacy and be closing school libraries across BC.”

Cunliffe claims reaction to his run has been overwhelmingly positive, and he is hearing more questions being asked by parents and educators across the province.

There are still plenty of issues that need addressing.

“If we’re concerned about childhood obesity, kids are now allowed to take PE online, on a computer. We’re trying to get them off the computer!”

Other questions he asked include do we have enough councilors for our students? Why are we closing school libraries?
        
These are some things Cunliffe is hoping more people will be talking about.

“There are some fairly serious questions that I think deserve and honest answer, and now more and more, as a result of my efforts to make people aware, I’m hearing people talk about these things.”

Cunliffe is hoping his run will be a catalyst to an honest, open, respectful discussion with all sides.