VSB facing huge projected budget deficit
Posted February 19, 2014 11:26 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A huge projected deficit for the Vancouver School Board means the district could be facing cuts as staff scramble to find savings to balance their books.
Board Chair Patti Bacchus says the anticipated shortfall is just under 16-million dollars.
“That’s a pretty daunting amount,” says Bacchus, who met with the Finance Committee Wednesday night. “Each year that we’re faced with this it become more challenging, and this years’ amount is larger than we’ve faced in a few years, so it’s going to be very difficult.”
Dealing with a deficit is even worse this time around because basic school costs like Hydro rates are rising, support staff wage increases come out of that money and schools struggle with inflation according to Bacchus.
Adding to that mix, Bacchus says the Province’s funding freeze is grinding down BC’s world-class education system. “We are eroding the ability to provide the level of service that we would like to be able to. I think the recent courts issue has shown how much money hasn’t been going into the system since 2002, 2003, and we’re really fallen behind in funding levels compared with other provinces.”
The Liberal Government is appealing a BC Supreme Court decision to return bargaining rights stripped from teachers in 2002, claiming it will cost billions of dollars–something the province can’t afford. The BC Teachers’ Federation questions the accounting on Victoria’s claims. The court decision that came down in January also awarded the teachers’ union two-million dollars. The provincial budget introduced Tuesday included only 22-million dollars for school funding across BC.
The board, stakeholders and the public will hear proposals on how to make up the deficit in April.
