SD57 Prepares For Hurdle As Big As School Closures

Wednesday, February 09, 2011 04:00 AM

Prince George, B.C. - School District 57's Board of Trustees is preparing to tackle an issue in the run up to budget deliberations that could be as hard-hitting to students and parents as last year's school closures...

At the end of last March, trustees voted in favour closing six schools to meet serious budget constraints and falling enrolments. The issue to go under the microscope this year is: transportation.

School District 57 is the largest, geographically-speaking, in the province. More than 70 school buses travel 12-thousand-kilometres everyday, transporting 4,000 students.

In raising the issue at last night's board meeting, trustee Roxanne Ricard, said, "It is a big ticket item here, we are over-spending (the funding allotment from the ministry) by $500-thousand dollars (each year)."

To put that into perspective, the savings associated with closing a small elementary school is in the range of $200-thousand dollars. So Board Chair, Lyn Hall, admitted trustees are grappling with a significant issue - bringing the transportation budget in-line would be a cost-savings equivalent to two school closures.

And although he doesn't have a dollar figure attached to the anticipated shortfall for the 2011-2012 budget deliberations, Hall said declining enrolments make it a yearly certainty.

So, Trustees have voted in favour of reviewing the district's transportation system to determine:

if the service level is the right level: should it be reduced or enhanced?
does the board have an appetite to charge for services: regular riders? courtesy riders? the custom riders, which carry special needs students?

Hall said the review will "parallel the school closure process". Trustees will meet with senior administration over the next couple of weeks to look at all the information and decide if it's an area where they want to make changes. If it is, the district will then go out to the community for input before coming back to the board for a public hearing and decision.

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Posted on Wednesday, February 09, 2011 04:00 AM in News by Michelle Cyr-Whiting

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Comments

Posted by: noisy on February 9 2011 7:42 AM

Hmmm. It seems, according to the budget article, that enrollment is actually up this year. Go figure. But that's beside the point here, really. Perhaps if they hadn't closed so many schools, they wouldn't have to bus so many students.

We voted for them, apparently.

Posted by: anniemartin on February 9 2011 8:25 AM

So the Liberals underfund the schools, schools close and the kids who can no longer walk to their local school have to pay for the school bus? This is getting ridiculous. This government has given away BC resources; increased taxes & user fees; underfunds our medical system in a time when the population is aging and needing health care more than any other time in history; put medical & school boards in between the public and the ministers; has hugely overpaid management of ICBC/BC Hydro/BC Ferries and we pay like never before; wasted millions tearing up contracts and fighting in court only to be told they were wrong; they have gutted the legislation protecting the environment, renters, workers and consumers; we now have the lowest minimum wage, the lowest social assistance-disability, highest child poverty and on and on and on! The highest deficits in BC history, but they keep handing out corporate tax cuts every year - can they even add? Hold on, that's what the HST is for - shift the burden and give another corporate tax cut. But let the fear mongering begin, the NDP would be worse 'cause no business would come to BC right? The trickle down theory - give the corporations a break and they will in turn give jobs. Right...they don't take their profits to payout shareholders and bonuses to the top, they re-invest right? Nope, they take government grants (taxes) for that. Can't wait for an election!

Posted by: He spoke on February 9 2011 9:00 AM

Yep, it is easy to criticize when we read five lines of information, we come to an instant obvious observation of the obvious solution, than we criticize.

To the members of the board, the decisions that needs to be made are not easy. Board members know that their decisions impact lives, thus, they are not taking it lightly.

Posted by: verballabel on February 9 2011 9:07 AM

At least BC Place is getting a fancy new roof..lol

Posted by: faxman on February 9 2011 10:18 AM

"So the Liberals underfund the schools, schools close and the kids who can no longer walk to their local school have to pay for the school bus?"

Not really. People stopped having kids, school enrollments fell, it became less viable to keep all the schools open, schools were closed. Nothing to do with underfunding really.

What irks me is that the trustees and the administration sat on their hands for years and refused to acknowledge and address the declining enrollment until it became impossible to ignore any longer.

Perhaps it's time to stop pandering to the teacher's union and start putting the kid's first.

Posted by: My3Centsworth on February 9 2011 11:12 AM

And we're off...Blame the teachers.

Posted by: faxman on February 9 2011 11:25 AM

"And we're off...Blame the teachers."

Heck, I'm not blaming the teacher's...If the taxpayers paid me to work 6 hours a day, eight months of the year I'd be all over it too.

Posted by: Gary Long on February 9 2011 11:54 AM

"Heck, I'm not blaming the teacher's...If the taxpayers paid me to work 6 hours a day, eight months of the year I'd be all over it too"

what an idiotic and uneducated comment by a moron. Faxman, you sir are an idiot. Do you really think teachers work 6 hours a day? 8 months a year? Get your facts straight.

Most of the teachers I know head there at about 8ish and don't leave until 4ish. Sounds like an 8 hour day to me, not to mention marking papers at home and planning for the next day.

I've almost had enough of your stupid replies to threads. Clown.

Posted by: faxman on February 9 2011 12:17 PM

Awww....poor "Gary Long" has had enough. That makes me so sad.

My facts and observations are perfectly sound but thanks for dropping by to play.

Posted by: Gary Long on February 9 2011 12:18 PM

yep, those "facts" and "observations" are really sound. Ohhh my.....I feel sorry for you.

Posted by: faxman on February 9 2011 12:58 PM

You sound like you're either a teacher or are married to a teacher. Teachers and government workers are two groups who always seem to get their knickers in a twist when someone dares to point out just how little most of them do. I don't think your gravy train will be derailed any time soon "Gary Long" so try not to get to worked up about it.

How did PG do with the latest Foundation Skills Assessment results?

Posted by: noisy on February 9 2011 1:09 PM

I don't think the issue here is how hard teachers work. And while I do not usually support the teacher's union, most teachers I know have arrived early and stayed late, unpaid. Not to mention the after hours marking and prep work. The issue here is not most teachers.

The issue here is that we have trustees who, while maybe not making their decisions lightly, are not necessarily thinking in the long term. They have "declining enrollment tunnel vision" and have a history of not looking beyond that. It's easy to blame budget cuts on declining enrollment because it makes it easy to stop being creative in finding solutions.

Posted by: Gary Long on February 9 2011 5:05 PM

There are lazy people in any job. It's just that it gets more noticed when it's a teacher or a doctor per say. Sure there are a some teachers that do the bare minimum, punch in at 8:30 and leave at 2:30, but there are many more that care, and put in the extra effort.

I'd hate to be a teacher today. So many parents, can't parent their kids properly or don't give a rats ass so then it's the teachers fault when that kid can't spell or read when he's in the 10th grade. Hence the poor results on these assessments.

It all starts with parenting. Never forget that. A teacher can only do so much for a kid that's had a poor upbringing.

And you guessed it Faxman, my spouse is a teacher and she works very hard and goes the extra mile every day like many teachers do. So easy for you to sit in your chair and point out the negatives.

I'm not going to waste my time worrying about what you think any more. You can have the last word. Fire away......idiot.

Posted by: Old Hippy on February 9 2011 7:11 PM

Several points. After closing schools and forcing children to be bussed to another school, why are big busses being used on routes that could be serviced by smaller busses?

According to the Citizen the three top employees of SD57 all make over $157,000 a year. Do they put in as many hours as the teachers do? If we are going to start charging for school bus rides, it would ammount to a user tax. Using the user tax theory, I would request that I not pay any more school taxes as my children are all done school. Enough foolishness

Posted by: faxman on February 9 2011 8:06 PM

Geez Gary, you almost had me there but you just had to try throwing in an insult at the end. That's a rather odd way to carry on a discussion. You must be a product of your vaunted education system. :)

Posted by: Palopu on February 9 2011 9:41 PM

I think that we need to look at all the costs for educating our kids. When we do, of course we see that the number one cost is Salaries and Benefits. Same thing applies to City Hall, CNC, UNBC, Firehall,Police, etc; etc; etc;

How long do you think that we can continue to increase the wages and benefits of these Civil Servants. The fact of the matter is not much longer.

All you have to do is take the average wage and benefits for say a average paid school teacher, and give them a 2% increase a year over the next 10/15 years and multiply this amount by the number of teachers in the district, and you will see that we have a huge problem.

You CANNOT continue to give Government workers increases year after year, especially in an area where the majority of Citizens are seniors, or children, and where good paying jobs are becoming scarce.

Constantly closing schools, getting rid of maintenance workers, janitors, etc; trying to cut down on transportation, and laying off teachers through attrition, is all being done to maintain the salaries and benefits for the teachers and staff who are left. This applies to all Government workers.

Here's a new concept. Lets decrease the salaries of every Government worker by 10%. This would still leave them with a great salary and benefits, and the money saved could be used for other reasons, not the least of which would be to educate our children. We could also decrease the salaries of all private workers by the same percentage point, that is, for anyone making in excess of $60,000.00 per year. Governments could decrease user fees and taxes by a like amount, and quit wasting our money. This is basically a simple solution to a big problem, but because it calls for some self sacrifice, it will never happen.

Posted by: Palopu on February 9 2011 9:42 PM

I agree with most of what Anniemartin says. The thing that baffles me is that even after all that, people still vote for these dudes. Is there any hope for mankind????

Posted by: Runner46 on February 9 2011 9:54 PM

time heals all wounds and elections do sooth the savage "beast". Unfortunately, only 35 precent of the "beast" vote. Now that is a real shame!

Posted by: metalman on February 9 2011 11:03 PM

Runner, the savage 'breast' is, unfortunately, woefully misinformed.
Many of us are content with our lot, and only turn up to vote when there is a singular issue that really affects us. Voting should be mandatory.
Having said that, it IS time to cut the fat in our education system, starting with the teachers, and finishing with the bureaucrats. It has been said that you have to pay top salaries to attract and retain top talent, well I would bet serious dinero that an unemployed, educated, concerned parent could do as good or better a job at administering the school district for far fewer dollars. Of course, many teachers work hard, and put in the extra time, for their students, and I respect them for it. The fact is, we are teaching tomorrow's leaders, and it is imperative that we strive to the utmost for the education of our little ones. Right now, times are a little tough, the teachers union needs to step back and taske one for the team, that is, tomorrow's leaders.
metalman.

Posted by: seamutt on February 9 2011 11:35 PM

Faxman are you just a troll or do you have an example on your teacher bashing. Are still carrying some sort of a hate from your school days. The teachers I personally know I doubt you could keep up with. They put in full days, and if you add up the homework checking, vounteering in school activities, extra work on sundays, well that can add upto 7 days a week.
Palopu lets see you lead by example, drop your pay 10% right now, do it man.

Posted by: faxman on February 10 2011 8:42 AM

According to their own survey, 1 out of every 4 teachers puts in less than 40 hours a week and that includes time outside the school day. I guess these are the teachers that nobody knows since all the teachers you know work 7 days a week. Couple that with 10 weeks off in the summer, 2 weeks off in December and 1 week off in march and it's a pretty sweet deal if you milk it properly.

Posted by: interceptor on February 10 2011 12:10 PM

How much does the district spend on catering for teachers on all of the non-instructional days each year? I saw the figure once and it was staggering - does anyone have it? Pack a lunch like most people do for work and put that money towards bussing.

Posted by: interceptor on February 10 2011 12:17 PM

found on a report on the SD57 website:
"The district paid $215,267 to two catering companies in 2008-2009"

Posted by: Palopu on February 10 2011 8:52 PM

Seamutt. In order for the proposal to work we would all have to take a 10% reduction.

Dont fool yourself. If the issue was ever to be put forward in a serious manner, I would take the 10% drop in a New York minute, would you????