Vancouver School Board trustees fired for failing to meet a balanced budget
Posted October 17, 2016 12:05 pm.
Last Updated October 17, 2016 3:31 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – BC’s Education Minister has fired Vancouver’s elected School Board trustees following months of public feuding over budgets, bullying allegations, and potential school closures.
Mike Bernier says the decision to dismiss the entire nine-member board comes after he received a draft report from special adviser Peter Milburn, in which concerns were raised about the progress and direction of trustees.
“What we’ve witnessed from the Vancouver School Board is a misplaced focus on political tactics rather than a responsible stewardship.” Bernier says, pointing to what he describes as a toxic environment on the board.
The VSB failed to pass a mandatory balanced budget by June 30, the only out of 60 school districts, citing concern over $20 million in cuts that would be needed. However, the board was supposed to vote to approve that same budget Monday night.
“What we need to be looking at is stability going forward. We have funding for Vancouver of almost $500 million of taxpayers money that goes in right now,” Bernier says.
Bernier has replaced the board with a single official trustee, former Delta school superintendent Dianne Turner, who will remain at the post for at least 12 months. He says a date has not been set for a possible by-election to replace the fired trustees.
“It’s up to Miss Turner now to decide how that funding is allocated for programs to benefit students,” Bernier adds.
VSB Chair Mike Lombardi said he was disappointed to see the province impose a complete dismissal on elected trustees.
“Education Minister Mike Bernier’s outrageous political decision to unilaterally fire the democratically elected Vancouver School Board is the wrong decision for kids, for parents, and for communities,” he says. “The people of Vancouver elected trustees to stand up for public education, not to do the provincial government’s dirty work of closing schools, cutting programs, and selling off public assets address a budget shortfall of their own making. The Vancouver School Board is now being run out of Premier Christy Clark’s office.”
Fired NPA trustee Christopher Richardson isn’t surprised by the dismissal.
“I think it was certainly one of the options that he had. I may be surprised as to the timing. Our failure as a board to do what 59 boards had already done – it’s been six months to the day since we rejected the budget in April and then failed to reconsider at the end of June,” he says.
“In our view, something needed to be done. It was up to the minister what exactly it is to do and what options are available to him, and he made his decision, and we respect that,” she says.
Short video of Min. Mike Bernier making the VSB dismissal official #bcpoli #bced #yvr pic.twitter.com/0aO08xuFpi
— Lasia Kretzel (@lkretzel) October 17, 2016
Bernier called for a four-month audit of the VSB when they rejected a budget at the end of June and then extended the deadline by two weeks on Oct. 6. Special advisor Peter Milburn presented a draft of the audit to the ministry on Saturday and Bernier says it deepened his concerns about the board.
The report will be made public once the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner finishes its investigation.
The audit went ahead at the same time WorkSafeBC’s ongoing investigation into allegations of bullying and harassment against the school board’s senior management team was underway.
The board’s entire senior staff took a medical leave of absence during the investigation.
