Province ordering school boards to pay back funding received during teachers strike

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The government is ordering this province’s school boards to hand over any savings built up as a result of the teachers strike earlier this month.

Patti Bacchus, chair of the Vancouver School Board, isn’t thrilled.

“We’re concerned that we may end up at a loss again,” she tells us. “We have no indication of where this funding is going. I’m assuming much of it is going to have to straight out to that $40/day plan that government was giving away to parents.”

“It’s just another yank on the school boards. [It’s like saying,] ‘Don’t think you’re going to be coming out of this with anything over and above what they’re absolutely required to give us,'” she adds.

Specifically, inconsistency and a lack of communication from government make this instruction challenging.

“It’s been frustrating right through this dispute dealing with government,” says Bacchus. “They have pretty much run roughshod over the school boards, as well as other folk they’ve been dealing with, and a lot of surprises… creating a lot of extra workloads for school districts.”

She notes school boards at least have a bit of flexibility, given they were allowed to keep 20 per cent of savings from strike days in June.

Each district will report expense savings ranging from teacher wages right down to bathroom supplies.

In a letter, Assistant Deputy Minister Deborah Fayad tells school districts that if they are experiencing particular financial difficulties as a result of the job action and strike recoveries, the province will deal with those issues on a case-by-case basis.

More to come

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