THE North Vancouver school district is axing its continuing education program in an effort to cut costs.
The program, which costs the school district about $200,000 a year, is the latest non-core offering to fall under the budget scalpel.
Continuing education will come to an end after operating in the school district for more than 25 years, said John Lewis, superintendent. Primarily, the program offers English language courses for adults.
But Lewis said the funding from the Ministry of Education isn't enough to cover the costs of the program. While the school district was required to pay teaching staff for the program the same rates as regular classroom teachers, the province only paid about 64 per cent of the funding it would for K-12 students, said Lewis. The province also changed the law a few years ago so that school districts could no longer charge fees for adult programs.
The result has been the school district has had to subsidize the program from its $139 million operating budget. The board of education recently decided it would not continue to do that and cut the program.
The West Vancouver school district cut its community learning program for adults four years ago for similar reasons.
Continuing education wasn't the only program examined for cost savings this year.
The North Vancouver school district is also taking a close look at its popular outdoor school program, which has been losing about $500,000 a year for the past two years. In recent budget deliberations, the board of education indicated it wants to see those losses reined in by $150,000 in the next year. Layoff notices were recently issued to unionized support staff at the school site near Squamish. Programs will continue as school district works on a plan with its business partner Listel Hotels to break even by 2015.
School officials also looked at other "non-core" programs, including summer school, the band and strings program and the Strong Start program for pre-schoolers in budget discussions but opted not to make cuts there, said Lewis.
Summer school costs the district about $150,000 a year, but the board felt it was important to offer help to students who have struggled during the school year, said Lewis.
The school district offers summer school classes for both elementary and secondary students. Many secondary students enrolled in summer school take three-week "review and completion" courses, which allow them a chance to earn a passing grade or improve a bad grade in a course. About 1,000 students take summer school each year.
Lewis said the band and strings program has nearly 1,100 students registered and is very close to breaking even. Parents pay an annual $425 fee for that program.
The district has also opted to continue paying about $20,000 a year towards the Strong Start program for preschoolers and their parents, operated out of seven North Vancouver elementary schools.
Lewis said he expects staffing in the regular K-12 classrooms in 2013-2014 to continue at a level similar to the past school year.
jseyd@nsnews.com
