Their surplus may have suffered, but the West Vancouver school board’s $75 million budget for 2016/2017 should allow students to continue enjoying their regularly scheduled programming.
The board approved the $67.9 million operating budget Tuesday, approximately $118,000 lower than last year.
While this spring’s budget process left the Vancouver school board wrestling with a $27 million shortfall, West Vancouver’s approximately 7,000 students can expect September 2016 to look very similar to September 2015, according to superintendent of schools Chris Kennedy.
“Our budget isn’t a big story this year, it’s fairly status quo,” he said.
The vast majority of the West Vancouver school board’s budget is spent on salaries and benefits, including $30 million in teachers’ wages and more than $17 million for principals and support staff, plus more than $12 million in employee benefits.
The school board earmarked approximately $1.1 million of surplus funds to ensure the district can keep their elementary band program, librarians, and vice-principals, according to Kennedy.
“As (the community) heard other districts were struggling with whether or not to maintain those services, they were very clear that they wanted us to make sure we’d do whatever we could to keep those services.”
West Vancouver has been insulated from cuts faced by other school districts by an infusion of $8 million in tuition paid by the district’s 550 international students. That figure represents a drop of more than $800,000 from last year. West Vancouver has also maintained “fairly static” enrolment, Kennedy said.
“Some districts have under-capacity challenges, we don’t have those,” he said.
Enrolment is buttressed by approximately 1,000 students – not including international students – who come to school each day from outside the district.
West Vancouver has managed to maintain its status as a “destination district” despite strong competition from the community’s private schools, Kennedy said.
“Some communities are seeing a loss to independent schools, but we’re not seeing that in West Vancouver. I think strong academics … encourage families in West Vancouver to choose public.”
While West Vancouver is in a good position for the upcoming year, Kennedy said the district did face incrementally rising costs, such as heating and lighting, which haven’t always been matched by government funding.
“We do see on the horizon those challenges that other districts have,” he said.
After cutting $9 million between 2008 and 2011, North Vancouver’s 2017 budget puts the school district in the black.
The school board approved a $173 million budget Tuesday, which is a boost of $7 million over last year, thanks in part to an accumulated surplus and 100 new students. The increase in enrolment comes with 15 new full-time teachers.
Salaries are rising in the 2017 budget, with $67.7 million earmarked for teachers, an increase of more than $2 million over last year.
The budget includes a boost of more than $200,000 for principals and vice-principals as well as nearly $400,000 for support staff.
The salaries and benefits add up to $134.4 million, taking up the lion’s share of the $146 million operating budget.
North Vancouver’s budget is aided by more than $9 million in tuition fees, the vast majority coming from international students as well as $90,000 from summer school fees.
Extra money is earmarked for technology in the classroom, and janitorial services, according to Deneka Michaud, North Vancouver school district spokeswoman.
While the overall picture is rosy, the budget anticipates a dip in revenue from Cheakamus Centre, from $2.129 million last year to $2.083 million in 2017, a drop of $46,000, as well as a $50,000 drop in miscellaneous revenue. Utilities are expected to jump by nearly one-third, from $2.2 million last year to $2.9 million in 2017.
This article has been amended to correct the dates of North Vancouver's budget cuts.
