Prince George, BC.- Tonight , School District 57’s Board of Education will   meet at Vanier Hall to   discuss the 42 recommendations put forth in the plan to  balance the budget. 

The School District is facing a shortfall of just over $7 million dollars. The plan to deal with that shortfall includes the closure of eleven schools in the District, and the reconfiguration of three others.

Hardest hit would be the rural schools as there are 7 on  the list   for possible closure.  While  each  District has its  own  issues, two others in the region  have spared  swinging the axe on rural schools.

In Quesnel, there are similar issues  as School District 28 has dropped 2,000 students over eleven years. Currently the District has 3750 students, but expects enrolment to continue to decline until it levels off at 3100. “How do we in conscience close a rural school when the savings are so minimal?” asks Board Chair Carolyn Neilson.   Her School District made a decision at the beginning of the School year not to close any schools within the foreseeable future. “The reason is, in Quesnel, the schools where we could realize some savings are in town, and those are relatively full. The schools that have   more space where perhaps closing would make sense, it doesn’t because of the way the funding is handed out.” She says   they are  allowed an extra $100 thousand dollars per school if the school is  a certain distance away from the School Board office. “ All of the schools in our District that are in the half full stage are outside that limit, so we get extra money a year for those.” When coupled with closure costs and bussing students elsewhere, it simply doesn’t make sense to close those rural schools.

To the north, in School District 59 - South Peace,   Superintendent Kathy Sawchuk says   there is a commitment to keeping the rural schools open if at all possible. “If there are 45 students, they are guaranteed three teachers” says Sawchuk, “We are hearing people want to keep their schools intact, but we may have to rethink how we offer the education, or we may not be able to offer the scope and breadth of programming the child is entitled to.” She is an advocate of rethinking the school concept  especially in a world where technology has become part of the daily lives of students “Education may not need to be the schoolhouse we are used to, perhaps it is time to rethink how we deliver education”.

Sawchuk   says in her opinion there is one key element that must be first and foremost  “At the centre of this conversation has to be the needs of the child.”

School   District 57’s meeting this evening  is slated to start at 6:00 p.m., one hour earlier than is the normal start of a Board meeting.