SD57 Requests Permission to Have A Deficit

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 04:15 AM

Prince George, B.C. - The Board of Education of School District 57 has approved asking the Minister of Education for the ability to run a deficit of no more than $2.4 million.

The request to the Ministry outlines an expectation that the Annual Facility Grant will be reinstated next July. “Upon the reinstatement of the Annual Facility Grant funding, a plan to continue with planned projects and to retire this debt can be established.”

The Board says this will allow it to carry on with its plan to eliminate the $3.3 million dollar structural deficit by 2012.

Secretary Treasurer Brian Mix clarified that while there has been no indication the Facility Grants will be reinstated, there is a logical expectation it will be reinstated. The $2.4 million includes a small contingency of $110 thousand in the event there is some issue that needs to be dealt with before the Facility Grants are reinstated.

Trustee Lois Boone is very concerned with running a deficit with no indication there will be Facility Grants to help pay it back and pointed to a lack of communication from the Ministry about the future status of the grants.

Trustee Roxanne Ricard expressed frustration over the lack of information and communication with the Ministry of education "I feel like we are in the great abyss, and I am concerned we are using words like 'hopeful', 'hoping', 'an expectation' the grants will be reinstated. We have serious financial challenges, and this is just adding to it. We have gotten to this point being good stewards, but we are here, not knowing what the current situation really is."

Trustee Trish Bella advised that she had attended the BC School Trustee Assocation meeting on the weekend and the message from the Ministry of Education was that "The Annual Facility Grants were frozen, there was no plan to bring them back, and it would be difficult to do so."

Trustee Valentine Crawford expressed fear that the Annual facility Grants will either never come back, or if reinstated, will be a smaller amount than is needed "I will support this motion, but under duress."

The Annual Facility Grant alloted to School District 57 in the past has been $3.2 million

Trustee Sheryl Warrington says if nothing else, this recommendation will "buy us some time". "We have been told we can approach the Ministry District by District and they will help us through these difficult times, and I believe we will have the option to control the length of time we carry that deficit."

The plan would be to pay off the debt over four years.

The Ministry of Education cancelled the Annual Facility Grants after School District 57 had entered into contracts for upgrades to some facilities. The cancellation has left this School District (and many others) in a position of trying to come up with some way to balance the books which were already challenged by that $3.3 million dollar structural deficit.

If the Ministry of Education doesn’t allow the deficit, S.D. 57 will have to look for other ways to balance the books, Trustee Lois Boone says that means the money will have to come out of the classroom "That is something none of us is ready to accept."

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Posted on Wednesday, October 28, 2009 04:15 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: acrider54 on October 28 2009 5:26 AM

I don't see why not, the Liberals changed the law so that they could run one.

Posted by: CaringSoul on October 28 2009 8:18 AM

The reason they are in this mess to begin with is because they spent money they did not already have! So what now? Do the same thing? What happens if the government does not reinstate the grant? This is WRONG on so many levels. The school board should not be in the hole with all the taxes we pay. Shame on the government and shame on the people who run the school board. Because of your spending habits you have jeopardised the education of our children. Ridiculous! I believe that BC is going to be so far in the hole after this whole Liberal spending spree that we will NEVER get out of debt. Two BILLION this year and 20 BILLION next. We are in big trouble and I don’t care if you believe that or not.

Posted by: MiddleGround on October 28 2009 8:26 AM

I wonder why they don't just make the tough choices they need to to balance their budget? Why would they choose to run a deficit when they could balance the books by closing schools.

We have continued to see a drop in students in our school district (damn it, start having more babies out there folks). Until we have more children being born or family's move here, we will need to continue to close schools and look at how much administration we have.

The school board will continue to have to deal with reduced funding again for each of the next three years as the number of children entering the school system continues to drop. Fewer students = less funding from the province.

I am disappointed that once again the school board has made NO decisions to deal with their budget shortfall. That they have made NO plans on how to deal with the upcoming deficits.

'A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing'

Posted by: Stompin Tom on October 28 2009 8:43 AM

which schools do you propose closing?

Talk is cheap, lets see some specific ideas and how to impliment them.

Its easy to criticize, but spend a day walking in their shoes.

Posted by: Born in BC on October 28 2009 8:57 AM

Sure why not. The greatest generation has already heaped debt on generation x, why on earth would we try to fix the problem when we can always heap debt on the next generation?

You want tough answers? Close schools that make financial sense (ie the benefits of closing the schools less the costs of shipping the students is the greatest) and get rid of the $20 plus support staff (janitors, secretaries, whatever).

Its not really rocket science.

Posted by: MrPG on October 28 2009 9:08 AM

"We have continued to see a drop in students in our school district (damn it, start having more babies out there folks)"

This is what it comes down to doesn't it? With the cost of everything skyrocketing and peoples 'real' wages (adjusted for inflation) dropping, it's not feasible to have a big family anymore. Having 1 kid or no kids is becoming much more common.

As for the school board, make the tough decisions, close schools if you have to. Don't spend money you haven't secured. There are no guarantees in life, and budgets can change.

Posted by: Howrd_B_Stern on October 28 2009 9:11 AM

It's not rocket science is right. It's a hell of lot harder. We've been sending people into space for over 40 years now, but we can't fix our education system.

Posted by: willytrock on October 28 2009 9:34 AM

Try this.
1) pay the good teachers a bit more and get rid of more dead beat teachers
2) drop the special needs program and all the costs that go with that.
3) get senior managment to take a 15% pay cutback
4) open schools in the summer time and close them in the winter. Heating and lighting costs would be reduced.

With the school budget at over 100 million dollars, I am sure this would put the district in the black for many years.

Posted by: Born in BC on October 28 2009 9:36 AM

"Trustee Lois Boone says that means the money will have to come out of the classroom "That is something none of us is ready to accept."

Having NDP supporters on the board is the best way to ensure that, no matter how much money they get, they will find a way to spend more. Gotta make sure Joe Blow janitor can afford gas for his jet boat.

Posted by: CaringSoul on October 28 2009 9:38 AM

1) pay the good teachers a bit more and get rid of more dead beat teachers

UNION!

UNION = DEAD BEAT TEACHERS get to keep their jobs.

Posted by: willytrock on October 28 2009 9:44 AM

Posted by: duffer on October 28 2009 9:59 AM

I agree with Willy that the special needs program is the largest waste of money I have seen while my three children went through the school system in P.G. There was one aide for every special needs student at all times. This is an enormous amount of money wasted in my opinion. 99% of these students can't learn at the same rate as the other students so why not have them all in the same class instead of spread throughout the school in different classes, and disrupting every class. The only thing that was accomplished here was that the special needs student had a full time baby sitter and we all paid for it. I understand that this program was started to integrate everyone so the special needs kids felt involved. It doesn't work.

Posted by: Harbinger on October 28 2009 5:50 PM

I run a deficit every month and I don't even need permission. I say go for it , school board. Just don't let China start financing yer debt.

Posted by: astro on October 28 2009 6:45 PM

It is not the teachers nor the other union members that cause this problem. The school district has 9 district principals that have a supervisory role but are not needed. These positions were not around 10 or so years ago and they are not now needed. If they were eliminated, they would save the district more than $1 000 000 per year. This is an incredible waste of money. It is time the district looked inward as well as outward to solve the budget problem.