School District 53 has to sharpen its pencils to tackle this year’s deficit. From left in front row are trustee Rob Zandee, chair Marieze Tarr and trustee Sam Hancheroff. In back are trustees June Harrington, Rachel Allenbrand, Debbie Marten and Myrna Coates.
School District 53 (Okanagan Similkameen) is preparing to scale back after spending more money than it brought in two years in a row.
The district’s board of trustees is set to gather at a special meeting January 13 to figure out how to eliminate about half a million dollars of spending from its yearly budget.
According to the district’s chairperson, Marieze Tarr, senior staff will present the board with an “updated facilities plan” analyzing the cost of operating facilities, staffing levels and program costs. Based on that plan staff will recommend ways to reduce spending.
Tarr would not speculate on where the budget cuts might come from, but in a Dec. 18 interview she said looking just at facilities probably won’t save the district enough money. To properly balance its budget, they will likely have to look at “other periphery things” as well.
“Our board has been very clear that we try to keep as much money in the classroom as possible,” she said. “So we’re looking at all the other things where we can cut money.”
Rising costs, declining enrolment to blame
In 2015, the district spent $585,676 more than it took in, and this year’s budget forecasts a $530,789 shortfall. According to Tarr, the overspending is a result of a combination of higher costs and declining enrolment across the district.
She said the cost of heating and lighting the district’s buildings has continued to rise, while new rules dictate the district now has to pay benefits for its Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) staff. A freeze on non-unionized staff wages is also set to be lifted, meaning more money for the district to pony up.
Each school district in the province receives money from the provincial government based on how many students are enrolled at its schools. While costs have continued to rise in this district, enrolment has continued to fall across all of its schools.
Simply put, the district is having to spend more money at the same time that it is getting less.
Temporary solutions drying up
School boards aren’t legally allowed to run deficits, so for the past two years School District 53 has balanced its books by dipping into reserves left over from previous years’ budget surpluses.
But, as school trustee Rob Zandee pointed out, with those reserves nearly gone the district needs to find permanent solutions to its budget shortfalls. Those solutions, he said, will not come easily.
“At the end of the day something is going to have to change, and we have to look at it in respect of what gives students the biggest opportunity.”
Zandee explained that about 80 per cent of the district’s spending is on instruction (teachers’ salaries and benefits), with a little bit going towards district administration and the rest towards everything else.
With less money coming in the district needs to find ways to spend less, but it options are limited, Zandee said. The question then becomes “how do we square the circle, and make it work?”
No easy answer
One option would be for the government to boost the amount of money it gives to school districts, but both Tarr and Zandee said the district’s advocation hasn’t got much of a response from the Ministry of Education.
In an email to the Chronicle, Craig Sorochan, a Ministry of Education spokesperson, said the ministry understands “the unique situation rural districts face.”
Sorochan said the ministry’s funding model includes financial supplements to specifically address rural challenges like low enrolment and community size, and that School District 53 is receiving $3.9 million in 2015/16 for these supplements.
He said the ministry also increased the per-student funding rates in 2015/16, pointing out the base grant that all school-age students are eligible for has increased from $6,900 to $7,158 per full-time equivalent student this year.
Zandee pointed out that the district is still struggling to fund everything, and will need to make cuts.
He did not want to speculate on where cuts would be made ahead of seeing the facilities plan, but he wasn’t willing to keep anything off the table, saying the district is “looking at everything.”
“We need to make efficient use of our facilities. We certainly have to look at what the most efficient use of our facilities [is] with the overriding caveat that we have to provide the best education for our students.
“At the end of the day people do get worried about school closures, but you look at places like Vancouver, they’ve got 10,000 seats that are empty, that’s an inefficient use . . .there is a certain part of the facilities that the community uses and it’s important for the community, but at the same point in time, if you’ve got fewer and fewer students in that facility, you’re not doing those students any favours whatsoever [by keeping it open].
“That’s the reality. At the end of the day if we don’t have enough students in seats we can’t afford to have the facilities open. It’s just the brass tacks, right?”
Tarr stressed that proposals from district staff would be just that: proposals. She added that the board will only make decisions about how to cut spending after it has heard input from any communities that might be affected.
“This is not going to be a situation where we make a decision and then go to the communities and ask for feedback. We will be talking to people [first],” she said.
By Trevor Nichols
