After pressing Pause last week on adoption of its budget, school trustees in North Vancouver voted to approve a revised $182.5-million financial plan Tuesday evening, after receiving written assurance from the province about funding expected for the next school year.
Trustees balked June 20 after learning that provincial funding fell short of what will be needed to cover teachers’ contract requirements in the school district. Since then, however, staff have received a letter assuring them that funding for approximately 50 more educational assistants will be coming in the fall, once enrolment numbers and classes are confirmed, said secretary-treasurer Georgia Allison.
A total of 69 new full-time teachers will also be hired to ensure class size and composition limits are met. The province is kicking in almost $7.4 million to pay for that.
After hearing concerns about potential cuts to specialist teacher positions like school counsellors and psychologists, the revised budget has reinstated most of those positions, said Allison.
Those jobs, which provide dedicated specialists within schools, must now be paid for through the regular operating budget, without special funds provided by the province in the past.
“That’s where there’s been some tension,” said schools superintendent Mark Pearmain, who added that discussion is happening among school trustees around the province.
The school district will cut funding to some other budget areas that don’t directly impact students in the classroom to pay for that, said Allison, such as janitorial service, maintenance and grants towards teachers’ professional development.
Approximately $150.6 million of the budget is for the operating expenses. Salaries and benefits totalling about $134.8 million make up the lion’s share of that.
During budget discussions, school district staff pointed to other issues they’ve grappled with in balancing the budget.
During the school year just ending, an overall drop in enrolment, combined with a projection of 90 additional students who never materialized, led to a funding gap of about $2.1 million, said Allison. Surprisingly, most of that enrolment drop wasn’t from fewer students attending North Vancouver schools, but from high school students opting to take only a partial course load. That resulted in about 200 students not being considered full-time students in ministry of education funding formulas and the school district getting less money for them, said Allison.
The school district is also drawing on about $2 million in surplus to balance its budget this year.
That didn’t sit well with all trustees. “We’re running a $2-million underfunded system,” said trustee Barry Forward.
“I think that is hugely problematic,” added trustee Jessica Stanley.
“I feel like it’s a shell game,” she said. “We’re still not putting more real funds into classrooms.”
Trustee Franci Stratton said she didn’t see the situation in such dire terms. The school district has been able to ensure there are more classes and not lay off any teachers even in a situation when enrolment has dipped, she said.
Trustees passed the budget in a 4-2 vote with trustees Forward, Stratton, Cyndi Gerlach and board chair Christie Sacré in favour and trustees Stanley and Megan Higgins opposed. Trustee Susan Skinner was absent from the vote.
