Prince George, B.C. – Premier Christy Clark and B.C.’s ministers of finance and education can expect to hear from the Prince George School Board in short order.

This after the board agreed unanimously at last night’s meeting to send letters of protest in response to this month’s provincial budget.

The first letter voices their disapproval due to the $1.3 million in administrative savings being stripped from their budget next year (as part of the $25 million being cut province wide).

The second is a letter protesting the lack of any additional funding for education and Victoria’s decision to ignore the recommendations that were outlined by the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services with regards to education.

Those recommendations included:

– a call for sufficient and timely capital funding for facility improvements

– a call for additional funding to ensure the provision of quality public education and to properly meet the increased costs that schools are currently facing

– a recommendation to review the Ministry of Education funding formula relating to programs, services and administrative staffing compensation

Board vice-chair Tim Bennett says the $1.3 million in administrative savings the district is being forced to absorb means “$1.3 million that won’t be used to fund things in the district including programs and supports for kids.”

He says the lack of any new additional funding – especially in light of their presentation to the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services last fall – is also disappointing.

“I guess the frustration is when you have a select standing committee who are providing recommendations to government and they’re being ignored, what is the point of having that committee?

“You would hope that that committee is providing viable recommendations to government that are going to be honoured and it just seems like each and every year the government budget doesn’t take into consideration that report.”