Surrey Schools facing $16M budget shortfall

The Surrey Board of Education says the district is facing a funding gap of $16 million for the upcoming 2025-26 school year.

In a statement released Friday, Surrey Schools says funding is not keeping up with inflation, and it’s facing continued pressures due to population growth.

“At the most recent public Board meeting, Vice-Chair of the Surrey Board of Education Terry Allen was clear that additional measures are necessary to ensure Surrey Schools’ long-term financial sustainability and to minimize disruption to educational and operational services,” Surrey Schools said.

Just last year, the board approved a budget of $1.142 billion for 2024-25 school year, making “difficult decisions to pass a balanced budget.”

“The Board has been forced to make difficult, and sometimes heartbreaking, decisions around busing for diverse learners, the Guildford and City Central Learning Centres, while meeting its goal of delivering a high-quality education for every single student in Surrey,” Allen said.

“We are also managing growing costs around the needs of our diverse learners. For example, Surrey Schools spends $54 million more per year on special education funding than the provincial government provides – and it’s just not sustainable.”

Surrey Schools says it is “again challenged” with providing programs outside of the B.C. curriculum and meeting its core responsibilities. “As a result, the district will focus on delivering core educational services, and the priorities identified in the Board of Education’s 5-year strategic plan,” the board said.

“Most people don’t know that beyond per-student funding, Surrey Schools does not receive any funds specifically for busing, band, Strong Start, learning centres and related infrastructure, building leases and portable moves,” Allen added. “However, the Board will continue to do their best with the funds available – and at the end of the day – we’ll do everything in our power to protect students and families in Surrey.”

The board added that it will assess all programs and services, including StrongStart and others, while focusing on delivering on its statutory responsibilities under the School Act.

“At this time, non-contractually obligated, non-teaching staff will be allocated to classroom positions. This allows the district to maintain certified teachers in classrooms, helping alleviate the teacher shortage and deliver on parents’ and caregivers’ priority to see certified teachers in each Surrey classroom. In addition, any changes to district office positions will reflect critical organizational functions.

“The district is also examining the delivery of elementary band programs to look for efficiencies and align Surrey Schools’ programming more closely with other districts around the province,” it stated.

School boards around the province have a statutory responsibility to pass balanced budgets.

“As more than approximately 93% of the budget is required to cover teacher and staff salaries and benefits, there is very little flexibility in how the Board can reduce costs to deal with budgetary pressures,” the board said.

To understand the priorities of the Surrey school community, the board’s budget consultation survey has also been launched.