If the school’s district budget woes were a movie, it would have been a horror flick.
But Superintendent John Gaiptman told the school board and attendees at Tuesday night’s meeting to “change the movie” in` their head, because the school district is working toward a budget turnaround plan that means no more scary plot twists.
“What we were looking for is stability for the next five years and beyond,” Gaiptman said. “This board is dedicated to financial stability.”
Gaiptman delivered an update on the district’s preliminary budget numbers for the 2013/14 school year, which at this point, show a modest $8,606 surplus.
The final surplus is yet to be determined. The school district’s business company, which operated a school in China, is closing down, but the district doesn’t yet know the costs to dissolve it, Gaiptman said.
Also not included, the $363,998 in strike savings, because the final count on what was spent and what wasn’t during the strike hasn’t come in.
“Next week, we’ll tell you what the (strike) savings might be,” Gaiptman said.
The district managed to “cobble” together $1,058,400 to make its first installment on the $4.87 million it owes the province for previous budget shortfalls.
The district is paying back the remainder of the outstanding debt, but it won’t come with the loss of more staff, Gaiptman said.
The district plans to move from its headquarters at Columbia Square to a new facility at the middle school being built on the former John Robson Elementary site. The move is slated for the 2015/16 school year and will save the district $690,000 annually, which it will use toward its debt.
The district allocated $384,000 for teaching jobs for this year, with teachers added at both Richard McBride and Lord Kelvin elementaries, as well as keeping a teacher at Lord Tweedsmuir Elementary. The district is also working with the New Westminster Teachers’ Union to hear how it wants to spend new dedicated money ($872,742) that was negotiated in the recent contract between teachers and the government.
The union is recommending new teachers at Connaught Heights, Queen Elizabeth Elementary, Queensborough Middle School and École Glenbrooke Middle school, new Westminster Teachers’ Union president grant Osborne told The Record.
Osborne praised Gaiptman, calling the district’s budget turnaround “astounding”
Trustee Casey Cook echoed the praise.
“This is the first time in my sixth year that I am at this table that I have optimism that we have built sustainability into the system,” he said.
On Tuesday, trustees voted for a draft policy that would ensure the district develops a contingency fund to deal with unexpected costs.
Meanwhile, Gaiptman said the strike didn’t impact this year’s enrolment projections. The district is only six below the 5,660 kindergarten-to-Grade 12 students it predicted for fall. Final counts are not yet in.
