The board of education wants input from students and parents on its budget as it moves forward in dealing with an almost $5-million deficit that must be repaid to the province.
The district has been tackling budget shortfalls for more than a year – a situation that saw the former secretary-treasurer Brian Sommerfeldt leave the district – and staffing cuts to eight per cent of the district’s workforce.
And now, trustees want to hear from the public through what they’re calling community input sessions, said board of education chair Jonina Campbell.
“I haven’t spoken specifically with (secretary-treasurer) Al Balanuik on what it will look like,” Campbell said, though she added she wanted the process to be an improvement over the district’s last public consultation on the budget. “Last time when we went through it, I think that there were people that felt that it wasn’t clear in terms of what their role was, and I think it’s really important that we have specific enough information that is available to people in a way that they’re able to give feedback on and they understand what they are being asked, and there’s a clear role for them to play in that consultation process.”
At the district’s last budget consultation held a year ago, many attendees walked away shaking their heads, complaining there was little opportunity to weigh in and saying they didn’t understand how to comment on the budget information.
Campbell expects the district will nail down the consultation dates in the next week or so.
“We need to get letters to parents and let them know about the process, because people want to know what’s going on,” she said.
Along with parents, Campbell said trustees want to hear from students.
“It’s helpful to hear, in terms of how that influences their daily life. It’s important to have that perspective,” she said.
Campbell was inspired after meeting New Westminster Secondary School student Finn Leahy and hearing his concerns about how budget cuts have impacted the high school, specifically its beloved band program.
There was some recent good news for the district. In December, Balanuik reported to the board that it had a $500,000 surplus for this year so far, as a result of a variance in its budget.
The district estimated it would spend about $20.5 million in the first three months of the school year, but instead the district spent only about $20 million – resulting in the district reporting a positive financial quarter.
