Vancouver School Board budget woes worse than previously thought; jobs and programs may be cut

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The Vancouver School Board says nearly 170 jobs — mostly support workers — will be lost if it is forced to balance its budget this year.

A revised operating budget includes an increase in the shortfall, with the grand total at nearly $28 million. The deficit is the largest in well over a decade.

The board says this year also represents a troubling trend. In the past, some of the projected shortfall is made up in the last months of the fiscal year — but not this time.

The band and strings program in elementary schools would also end. The school board is also cutting funding for emergency supplies and staff will have to start paying a monthly fee for parking.

Support for gifted students programs is on the chopping block. The board is going as far as to stopping any free cafeteria food from being given out to anyone besides students approved for the meal program.

The school board is under mandate from the province to balance its budget; that’s why it says it has no other choice but to make cuts like these.

NDP Education Critic Rob Fleming says districts all over the province are making similar difficult choices.

“The BC Liberals chose to cut $54 million from school boards, supposedly for administrative savings. But it’s coming right out of the classroom. Yet, the found money to give millionaires a $236-million tax cut,” says Fleming.

He argues the provincial Liberals aren’t interested in properly funding education. “This is the result of Christy Clark taking our province from being the second-best funded K-12 education system in Canada to the second-worst one. British Columbian kids get $1,000 less, on average, per pupil.”

Fleming says Vancouver’s is no where near a unique problem with deficits province wide.

The VSB will vote on its budget at the end of next month.

Education Minister Mike Bernier says “it’s disappointing to see the VSB’s continued pattern of delivering an interim budget that predicts yet another large deficit.”

In a written statement, he says “since 2009/10 the VSB has predicted deficits – yet in the same time period has ended up growing its surplus by almost $17 million.”

Bernier says the province has provided “record funding,” and the “VSB’s failure to deal with under-capacity schools means taxpayers are paying an extra $37 million a year funding empty seats.”

Full statement from Bernier:

The Vancouver School Board started the school year with more than $24 million in accumulated operating surplus. The VSB expressed similar budget concerns last year – which is why my predecessor sent in Ernst and Young to audit VSB’s books. It’s disappointing to see the VSB’s continued pattern of delivering an interim budget that predicts yet another large deficit. This goes against key recommendations from the audit which noted releasing interim budget estimates “is significantly misleading” to the public. Since 2009/10 the VSB has predicted deficits – yet in the same time period has ended up growing its surplus by almost $17 million.

In the face of record funding from the province, VSB’s failure to deal with under-capacity schools over the years means taxpayers are paying an extra $37 million a year funding empty seats instead of education. The VSB also received an $2 million this year in “funding protection” to help them deal with declining enrollment.

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