Marieze Tarr, school board chair, assured people at last Tuesday’s public consultation that the board has not yet made a decision to close an Osoyoos school, even though many people think otherwise. The possibility of more money from the provincial government could change the equation. (Richard McGuire photo)
UPDATE: After this story went to press, it was learned that the additional funding for 2016-17 will only be $8 per student. School District 53 Secretary Treasurer Lynda Minnabarriet said school districts are expected to fund teacher and support staff salary increases from this revenue as well as fund an additional cost for the Next Generation Network. District staff are analyzing the information to fully understand the impact, she said. A draft budget will be provided to trustees in early April, she added. (RM)
As it considers the possibility of closing schools in Osoyoos, the board of School District 53 (Okanagan-Similkameen) waits with bated breath to hear how much money it will be getting from the provincial government this year.
The board is faced with some tough choices this year as it seeks to overcome a possible $1.1 million deficit in its budget, caused by increased expenses and declining enrolment.
Enrolment in the district has been falling for several years and is expected to continue to drop in the 2016-17 school year, with the most recent estimates suggesting a decline of 75 full-time equivalent students next year.
School boards aren’t legally allowed to run deficits without the minister’s permission, so for the past two years School District 53 trustees have balanced its books by dipping into reserves left over from previous years’ budget surpluses.
That money is nearly gone and now the board is looking anywhere it can to save money.
The board announced in early January that the trustees would consider two recommendations that would close either Osoyoos Secondary School or Osoyoos Elementary School.
Under the first option, 320 secondary students from Osoyoos would be bused to Southern Okanagan Secondary School in Oliver starting in September.
The second option was to close Osoyoos Elementary School and move them to the current high school in Osoyoos and make the school kindergarten to Grade 9 and have students from Grades 10 to 12 bused to Oliver.
Exactly how much money the school district needs to save will become much more clear on March 15, when the Ministry of Education is expected to announce how much money it will be giving school districts for the next school year.
Until then, the board can’t make any concrete decisions.
As board chair Marieze Tarr points out, “until March 15 we’re not clear on anything really.”
Tarr points out that the board has already come up with about $600,000 in potential cuts.
Those “potential areas of reduction” include supplies budget reductions, service reductions and staffing formula changes.
For Tarr, who has consistently maintained the importance of keeping as many resources in the classroom as possible, the staffing cuts are a tough pill to swallow.
“Obviously that will definitely happen to some extent, if our numbers don’t change from the ministry,” she said.
Right now, the district staffs its schools based on a ratio of teachers to students. Upper high school grades are staffed at a ratio of one teacher for every 23 students, and that ratio drops slightly as students get younger.
Declining enrolment already means less teachers and Tarr said the board will likely change the ratio of students to teachers, saving some money but taking more resources out of the classroom.
The government has “funding protection” systems in place, which guarantee a district won’t lose too big a percentage of its funding from one year to the next.
Tarr said that may help out School District 53 a little this year, but depending on the government’s March 15 announcement more cuts might have to happen.
School board trustee Rob Zandee bleakly acknowledges that “the irony of the Ides of March is not lost on anyone. As has been mentioned a number of times, the majority of cuts that have been made in the past have been made outside of the classroom … but with changing the staffing ratio, this will be inside the classroom,” Zandee said.
Tarr echoed similar thoughts.
“That is the challenge we’re facing. If there’s going to be no school closures, and we’re not going to get an increase in funding and there’s declining enrolment … those staffing ratios might even have to increase by one more,” said Tarr. “That is what is really scary to me. That’s why I said right from the beginning. I think everyone would like status quo and no school closures, but with our budget there’s just no way we can have status quo and no school closures.”
Once the provincial government makes its funding announcement, district staff will hit the books and come back with an updated budget for the board trustees to consider. From there, the next step is the April 6 financial facilities meeting, where the trustees will make final budget decision, including whether or not to close schools in Osoyoos.
TREVOR NICHOLS
Regional Reporter
