The New Westminster school district is facing a million-dollar deficit for the 2022/23 school year.
Secretary-treasurer Bettina Ketcham brought that news to SD40 trustees at their operations committee meeting on April 12.
Ketcham said a “base budget” shows structural deficits for the next three school years: $1.038 million in 2022/23, $593,000 in 2023/24 and $319,000 in 2024/25.
School District 40, as with all school districts in B.C., relies primarily on B.C. Ministry of Education operating grants. The district is anticipating an increase in those grants based on projected enrolment increases of 200, 282 and 155 students over the next three years.
But the basic per-student allocation of $7,885 remains unchanged for 2022/23, which Ketcham called “disappointing.”
“There are going to be some unfunded pressures,” she said.
The district can offset some of those pressures by dipping into its accumulated surplus, which is projected to sit at just over $3.2 million by the end of this school year.
But Ketcham pointed out that’s a short-term solution, since the district needs to plan for what happens when it runs out of surplus reserves.
One of the few sources of revenue the district has control over is its international education program, which collects tuition fees from students who come from overseas to study at NWSS.
Ketcham noted the program is working hard to get up to 200 full-time-equivalent students in the new school year – which, after accounting for the costs of the program, would add about $469,000 to the district’s coffers.
But covering off the structural deficit will still mean finding “efficiencies” in the new school year, Ketcham said.
Complicating the picture, emerging from the pandemic, is the need to find money for COVID-19 recovery efforts in schools, plus a greater need for teachers on call and other casual staff as the district copes with continuing high levels of staff absences.
All of that will make it challenging to find ways to fund new priorities, Ketcham said – though the district will still have the option of using surplus funds on one-time asks or of finding cost-neutral options by trading off one priority in exchange for another.
“There are going to be a series of trade-offs. There are going to have to be priorities,” Ketcham said.
The district met with stakeholder groups – including students, staff and parents – this week to get their ideas on the 2022/23 budget, and a survey asking for community input is open until April 23.
That input will be factored in as staff continue with the budget process, Ketcham said.
On May 10, SD40 staff will present a report highlighting budget recommendations from superintendent Karim Hachlaf before the board moves on to approving the 2022/23 budget.
You can find more details about the 2022/23 budget process in the online agenda package for the April 12 operations committee meeting.
Follow Julie MacLellan on Twitter @juliemaclellan.
Email Julie, jmaclellan@newwestrecord.ca.
