Brock Elementary School in Vancouver.JOHN LEHMANN
The provincial government's highest-ever per-pupil funding still leaves a budget shortfall for school districts of almost $40-million, resulting in more crowded classrooms, narrower program choices and fewer special-needs services by next September.
"I don't know one district that isn't cutting in some way," said Connie Denesiuk, president of the British Columbia School Trustees Association.
B.C.'s 60 school districts have just a few weeks left to figure out how they'll manage budget allocations rolled out last week, setting the stage for a clash between the provincial government and educators who say the budget increase isn't big enough to meet cost pressures.
The B.C. budget raised education spending by $112-million to cover the increased cost of teachers' salaries and the introduction of all-day kindergarten.
Another $110-million restores school maintenance grants this year, but doesn't make up for the funds that were cut last year.
All that new money does not cover increased pension costs, requirements for purchasing carbon offsets, higher Medical Service Plan premiums and other non-negotiable costs - not to mention inflation.
She said the cuts will vary according to district. "You will see an array - some class-size increases, some programs eliminated, some schools closed, you will see services to students decreased as well," Ms. Denesiuk said. Teachers and support staff are bracing for layoffs, particularly in districts where the student population is shrinking. Hundreds of teachers have received notices as a prelude to layoffs, and as many as 49 schools have been threatened with closure.
More than half of B.C.'s school districts will see declining enrolment this year and Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid said that is the biggest challenge.
"It's the reality of demographics," she said, adding that come September, there will be 60,000 fewer students filling B.C. classrooms than a decade ago.
"But the notion that this is a system in jeopardy - it isn't."
She said the province has funded the main cost pressures and suggested school boards should look to more administrative savings to reduce the impact on classrooms.
The government is planning to review the books of all its agencies, including school boards and Ms. MacDiarmid confirmed that could result in a decision to reduce the number of school districts.
She said she is "not necessarily" looking at amalgamation but noted there are 60 superintendents and 57 secretary-treasurers across the province, some representing districts with just a few hundred students.
"We are open to anything," she said.
New Democratic Party Leader Carole James was the head of school trustees in 1996, the last time the province decided that amalgamation was the answer to saving education dollars.
"Those efficiencies were found long ago," she said.
Ms. James said the province would do better to either stop offloading costs - such as increased Medical Service Plan premiums - onto school boards, or at least fully fund them.
"The Minister and the government are refusing to acknowledge they are downloading costs onto school boards. This is the frustration you're seeing from teachers and parents," she said.
Even school districts with growing enrolment are facing higher costs. The Surrey school district will see its budget grow by more than $14-million this year but is still left with a $12-million shortfall to meet higher payroll and utilities costs, as well as to purchase new portables for all its extra students.
Irene Lanzinger, president of the BC Teachers' Federation, said the province's rising per-pupil funding formula is misleading, because all the money is earmarked for just two cost pressures - salaries and expanded kindergarten programs - that the government created.
"Every year it's a little bit harder to meet the needs of kids," she said.
She noted that the province passed a law four years ago that limited class size and capped the number of special-needs students in each class. Every year since then, the number of classes that exceed the limits has increased. "This past year there were 12,000 classes over their own legislated limits."
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Do the math
B.C. school districts have found themselves burdened with $38.1-million in cost pressures that the provincial budget will not cover this year. The B.C. Teachers' Federation says that teacher layoffs and program cuts will likely be made to cover the costs, which include:
- $23.1-million to meet teacher pension increases of 1.04 per cent
- $6.4-million to calculate carbon output and purchase carbon offsets
- $3.3-million to meet pay increases of skilled trade employees like plumbers and electricians
- $2.9-million to cover medical service plan premiums
- $2.4-million to pay for hydro rate increases
Robyn Smith