With the continued growth of the region as a whole and a new funding model increasing the amount of money the district receives per student, it might not be a surprise to hear the Sooke School District (SD62) has a little extra money to play with this coming year.
Unfortunately, itB次元官网网址檚 not much, especially considering the cuts that have been made in the recent past.
The 2015-16 fiscal year budget was presented this week at an open meeting at the district office. Those in attendance heard the administrationB次元官网网址檚 plans for the extra $260,000 available over last year, and how they came to have that money.
As outlined by SD62 secretary/treasurer Harold Cull, the increase comes mostly from estimated additional student enrolment and increase in provincial per-student funding. In short, SD62 will receive an additional $3.8 million from the B.C. government next year.
Roughly $3.5 million of that money, however, is needed to cover non-discretionary expenditures that come along with those additional students and the new teachersB次元官网网址� agreement signed by the B.C. TeachersB次元官网网址� Federation last fall.
It leaves $260,000 in B次元官网网址渄iscretionaryB次元官网网址� funds that the district can allocate. Unfortunately, because of the $4.1 million cut from the SD62 budget over the past two years, it wonB次元官网网址檛 go very far.
B次元官网网址�(Those cuts had) a huge impact on our operation,B次元官网网址� Cull said. B次元官网网址淥ver the last two years, weB次元官网网址檝e really had to tighten our belt and make our operations as efficient as possible. So when weB次元官网网址檙e talking about a status quo budget B次元官网网址� itB次元官网网址檚 better than what it was the past two years, but itB次元官网网址檚 still not great.B次元官网网址�
But since $260,000 is nothing to sneeze at, itB次元官网网址檚 important that itB次元官网网址檚 allocated properly.
Cull said that in deciding how to spend that additional discretionary money, four themes emerge from stakeholders B次元官网网址� teachers, staff, parent groups, etc. They are restoring supplies budgets and clerical support cuts, addressing staff compensation issues and restoring staffing reductions.
As such, the draft budget has a balanced approach to addressing all four of those categories, Cull said.
The proposal includes adding $100,000 to the supplies budget, $40,000 for extra clerical support, creating a full-time transportation manager position (instead of sharing one with Saanich) and doing a full custodial review B次元官网网址� possibly ending in hiring a custodial manager, as well, though that is yet to be determined.
B次元官网网址淭his budget, yes, in some ways is a status quo budget,B次元官网网址� said board trustee Margot Swinburnson during the question/comment period. But that is based on B次元官网网址渓ast year and the year before (being) horrible budgets,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淲e are merely putting a Band-Aid on a huge festering sore, because we are not coming up to the levels that we need. IB次元官网网址檓 tired of this underfunding B次元官网网址� 15 years tired.B次元官网网址�
District superintendent Jim Cambridge summed up the proposed financial plan:
B次元官网网址淭he soundbites for this budget are: more teachers, more support staff, more clerical staff, no more administration and more supplies in a really tight budget,B次元官网网址� he said, noting the situation is still not ideal. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 not as good as what we had two years ago, but itB次元官网网址檚 certainly better than what we had last year.B次元官网网址�
The budget next comes before the board on April 14, with possible adoption on April 28.
