It's taken almost a decade for the SD40 Business Company to pay back an almost $1 million loan from the New Westminster School District, but next year looks like the time when the loan will be fully repaid.
At a Monday evening meeting of the school board, the sole shareholder in the business company, business company chief executive officer Brent Atkinson announced that the company is repaying $510,263 back to the district, along with $9,991 in interest, leaving the outstanding money owing at approximately $189,000.
"The good news is I expect the loan to be fully paid off next year," said Atkinson, who added that the district may be receiving some slightly revised figures at its Tuesday evening regular board meeting (after Record deadlines).
School board chair Michael Ewen said Atkinson is to be commended for righting the business company ship.
"The board of the business company, and in particular Brent, has turned things around and the business company has repaid approximately $867,000 in the last two years," said Ewen. "That's a fairly significant number."
Atkinson said if the board had not levied interest on the loan, the loan would already be fully paid off.
"I think we have an outstanding balance of around $189,000," he said, adding the decision to levy interest on the loan was a board decision, of which he has only one vote.
The business company was launched after the Liberal government introduced legislation in 2002 that made it possible for school districts to sell the B.C. curriculum overseas.
After complaints from New Westminster parents in 2007, the government changed the law to increase transparency by requiring such measures as arm's-length directors, annual public meetings and annual reports.
In January 2010, the board voted to designate the business company advance as an interest-bearing loan with no fixed repayment term, because the company's earnings aren't predictable.
Stay tuned to www.royalcityrecord.com on Wednesday for the latest details about the business company's repayment after Tuesday night's regular school board meeting.
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