P.G. School Board Passes 2017-2018 Budget
From left, Allan Reed, secretary-treasurer, Prince George School District, Tim Bennett, chair, Prince George School Board and Superintendent of Schools Marilyn Marquis-Forster – photo 250News
Prince George, B.C. – The Prince George school board adopted its annual budget bylaw at tonight’s public monthly board meeting.
This year the total (balanced) budget came in at $158,368,000 with an operating budget of $132,590,000, $17,670,000 in special purpose fund expenses, and $8,000,000 in capital fund expenses.
Over 70 per cent of the operating budget is made up with school allocation funds which are given to individual schools to so that principals can make budget decisions at the school level.
A further five per cent went to facility services, 3.5 per cent for custodial services, 3.5 per cent for bussing, 3.5 per cent for the district’s Aboriginal Education Department, and two per cent to cover utilities.
Board chair Tim Bennett said the biggest challenge was compliance with the language restored to the teachers’ collective agreement by the Supreme Court of Canada last year.
But he also acknowledged the budget process wasn’t quite as challenging as in years past.
“For the first year in many years we’re not having to use prior years’ surplus to balance the budget.”
He said the budget provides for all existing district programs and services to be maintained and noted the budget provides for the staffing and resources to re-open Springwood Elementary School this September.
Comments
Should thank the provincial Liberals for helping give adequate funding to the school district to make the budgeting easier this year.
You mean where once again the liberals lost in the courts ( at what cost this legal battle to the tax payers) so they HAD to put money back into education which they illegally took.. but during election time the liberals made it sound like it was their idea.. pathetic…
No dpj, thank the teachers for their decade long battle and the courts.
Geez, I hate to be a cynic, but I wonder how long it will take for the BCTF to start making HUGE demands of the (probable) Horgan NDP Government?
Hmmm, I’ll bet that the demands for salary and benefit increases will deafening!
What will be even louder will be the cries for smaller class sizes, perhaps down to 15, or 12, or what the heck, how about only 8 students per class!
After all, and don’t kid yourselves, smaller class do not necessarily mean better education standards for BC’s kids, but smaller class sizes definitely mean more teacher will have to be hired, and the more teachers hired, the more Union Dues being collected by the BCTF!
What, you didn’t know that big unions are nothing more than big businesses?
Don’t forget more time off! Poor dears only get 3 months off every year.
C’mon guys, the teachers aren’t in it for themselves, it’s all about the students!
Big businesses that work for the worker.
You don’t see union shares being traded on the stock exchange, but unionized corporations sure do.
Any of the investments made by the unions are done to expand pension funds. Unlike the CPP, unions don’t steal from their pension plans, that’s their members can retire at 65 at least, and not 67 as proposed by CPP.
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