VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid has issued a directive to the Vancouver School Board, ordering the VSB to deliver a balanced budget--and she wants to review the board's draft budget before they vote on it.
MacDiarmid's stern directive to VSB Chair Patti Bacchus orders the board to use the recommendations issued in a recent Comptroller General's review of the Vancouver School Board's financial situation, which slammed the school board over its money managing. She also wants the VSB to submit a draft budget on or before June 18th.
MacDiarmid won't say what she'll do if the board doesn't follow her orders. "The minister has options open to them, and we're all aware of that. The Vancouver School Board's aware of it and I've been asked before, 'Would I fire this board?' What I'm saying is, I'm trying to help us to find a way forward here, to move forward. My top concern, and I know this is true for the board as well, it is the students. It's each and every one of those 56,000 students."
Patti Bacchus says she has no problem submitting a draft of a balanced budget to the education minister--in fact, Bacchus says much of the work has already been done. "We already complied with the order, we did it already. We're doing it already..." Bacchus insists their upcoming budget includes several of the things
mentioned in the report, and the Comptroller General didn't give them
any new ideas they felt were useful.
Bacchus says the board has sent an April 7th draft budget proposal to MacDiarmid. "The budget that is in development...that we've already shared and will be happy to share an updated one following our already-scheduled meetings...is drafted with the best interests of students and student achievement in mind. And that's always our primary focus."
You can view the entire letter from MacDiarmid to Bacchus here.