Burnaby parents, students concerned over budget cuts

Students in Burnaby with high potential and those in multi-age learning environments face uncertainty as the school district proposes budget cuts.

Facing a $4.2 million budget deficit, the Burnaby School District has proposed eliminating two enriched learning programs: the Beta Mini School and the Multi-Age Cluster Classrooms (MACC).

According to the district’s budget outline, these cuts are part of a broader set of 18 adjustments aimed at finding efficiencies, which also includes potential reductions in counselling, language support, library staff, and custodians.

School board chair Kristin Schnider explains that these “difficult decisions” are driven by the need to balance the budget and avoid an $11 million deficit in the future.

“Obviously, we need to make some difficult decisions that are really based on dollars and cents, and not on values,” she says.

However, this rationale has not eased the concerns of parents and students, who claim they were not adequately consulted before the budget deadline in two weeks.

“When I learned the news, I was shocked, because my son actually got accepted into the program for this upcoming school year,” one parent told CityNews.

“I do understand that there’s always deficits. But at the same time, putting investments into our kids means the future for our country, for our province. For everyone,” they added.

Some students have started a petition to save the program — it has already gotten more than 200 responses.

The Beta Mini School caters to high-potential students, and the Multi-Age Cluster Classrooms (MACC) program is an inquiry-driven program fostering cognitive and creative growth for highly able learners in an inclusive peer environment.

“My closest friend group is within the Mini school, and I probably wouldn’t have met them if the program didn’t exist. This place has helped us build our confidence. If we were enrolled in a regular class, it probably wouldn’t have been as engaging,” Grade 9 student Rianne Li said on Wednesday.

The school board has stated that students affected by these potential cuts would be able to transition to regular classrooms or enrol in other schools.

Other Grade 9 students at Alpha Secondary School share why they wouldn’t thrive in regular classrooms.

“This program is helping us pursue harder level classes, which could help us in the future with jobs and higher education,” Kaitlyn Gwozd shared.

“I’m doing socials in the summer so I can take a grade 12 course next year.  I really want to do an education at a deeper level, and it’s because of Mini School,” Indra Wilson added.