Surrey School District $16m shortfall will prompt resource reallocations and program changes

The Surrey School District has approved a budget for the next year that includes a $16-million shortfall.

In a memorandum earlier this month, the Surrey School board admits it is dealing with financial challenges brought on by economic uncertainty, inflation, and the depletion of the district’s contingency funds.

Anne Whitmore, president of the Surrey District Parent Advisory Council, says “challenges” would be putting it mildly.

“In the coming year, our seventh grade band teachers are being reallocated back into the classroom. We have a policy of attrition, which means that retiring and education assistants who quit will not be replaced, which can impact. Each of them can support sometimes two to eight or 10 students… And there are other programs, like StrongStart, which, while outside the K-to-12 mandate, is funded through education, and we have layoffs there and program reductions, and so families are going to be restricted even farther from accessing those programs,” Whitmore explained.

She says she and other representatives from the education sector met with the education minister, along with other political leaders, in Victoria Monday to put her concerns to them directly.

Council wants province to access $4 billion set aside for emergencies

Whitmore says education minister Lisa Beare listened and took notes, but she is not particularly optimistic that there will be much action taken.

“It’s not fast enough, and I don’t see any solutions coming from the government on this,” said Whitmore.

“We have been saying this for a very long time, and the response back, at least in this moment, is that the tariffs and relations with the U.S. can turn our economy on its head. And so because of the uncertainty, they want to be cautious.”

Beare repeated that message in Question Period Tuesday, and says the province has increased education spending overall in this year’s budget.

Whitmore says the council would like the province to access the $4 billion it has set aside for emergencies, saying children cannot wait.

“When you delay support or resources for children, they don’t get those years back, and those impacts actually increase exponentially and affect them for the rest of their lives.”