Yesterday, the Vancouver School Board (VSB) was presented with an Audited Statement highlighting a $11.6 million-dollar deficit for this year. Reasons given for the shortfall included the one-time COVID-19 pandemic support payment and the one-time Safe Return to School Grant payment, which the district will no longer receive going forward.

The budget also showed that the VSB used the contingency fund, or the district’s “rainy day” fund, to cover some of the shortfall. In 2021, the district had about $11.1 million in the contingency fund, but this fund will shrink to about $3.7 million by the end of 2022. 

“Trustees approved a balanced budget earlier in the spring, so it’s troubling to see that now there's a deficit,” said Rocco Trigueros, one of two COPE School Board candidates. “When the Vancouver School Board sets their budget for 2023-2024, they’ll have no extra monies to draw from without cutting services to students. A big part of the problem with the budget is that the province offers only these one-time grants or funds. When the school board implements a program, they aren’t able to offer it the following year because there's no funding for it. It’s outrageous. You provide support and then you take it away the following year because it’s up to the district to find ways to continue that support.”

Suzie Mah, COPE school board candidate said, “Another example of this one-time grant is the province’s recent announcement of the Student and Family Affordability Fund. This 60-million-dollar fund has been allocated to districts to help expand meal programs, have school supplies, and cover any additional fees so that students can take part in activities like field trips. When you do the math, this works out to be about $108.00 per student. Even if Vancouver were to come up with a meal program for students, that funding may be gone the following year. What do you say to a child or a parent a year from now when they won’t have access to a hot lunch or a breakfast?”

Both Mah and Trigueros went back and looked over what the Vancouver School Board declared as funding shortfalls for the past decade. “We were shocked when we added it all up. The district has had to find $96 million over the past 10 years to continue to operate,” said Trigueros.  

“I remember in the 2010-11 budget year, the board proposed to issue layoff notices to over 400 teachers,” said Mah. “When any district proposes layoffs, it causes huge upheaval in schools. This October’s new board of school trustees need to work together to make the case for more funding for Vancouver schools. We just can’t revisit that nightmare ever again. Unless we get more education funding, trustees will be faced with making huge cuts this spring.”

“This past June, trustees carried a motion that would have an advocacy committee develop a robust plan to achieve adequate funding for education,” said Mah. “If Rocco and I get elected to the board of trustees, we would change the words ‘achieve adequate funding’ to ‘demand full funding’. We need to insist and demand more dollars for our district from the provincial powers that be. Our students deserve better education supports and our parents deserve more stability in knowing that the support will be there for their children’s needs.”

 

Contact

COPE: [email protected]

Suzie Mah: [email protected]