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Schools expecting more than 400 fewer students |
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Written by FRANK PEEBLES
Citizen staff
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Tuesday, 26 August 2008 |
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"We have had a look at the numbers and we anticipate that School District 57, like other districts in the province, will continue to decline," she said. "I think the number I saw was about 460 or so, over 400 anyway. As you know, as we discuss every year, those numbers won't be finalized until the end of September."
This decline was anticipated and the School District 57 budget built to accommodate the fewer kids in local classrooms. Bond said no district is being abandoned as this trend continues. It has been a reality for close to a decade already and it is not finished yet.
"We will continue to see that decline, I believe the number last year was in a similar position," she said. "If I look at the numbers across the province the numbers are about 8,000 fewer students (this year). That varied a little bit last year, but the trend as far as I can tell in looking at the research that I've been given looks like it won't level off until about 2015. We are basically in a decade of decline in (school enrolment) numbers, and one thing I do want to point out is British Columbia is not alone in this. I think it is handy when people say 'it is British Columbia's problem'; it is not. It is the world's problem. We have jurisdictions all around the world with enrolment declining similar to ours."
Statistics Canada information substantiated Bond's position. According to the most recent figures, the national student population dropped three per cent between 1999 and 2006, with Newfoundland and Labrador suffering most (an 18.4-per-cent drop since '99) and the only growth province being Alberta (a one per cent gain since '99). On the other hand, Alberta had the lowest graduation rates among the provinces.
Another national trend B.C. parallels is provincial investment in the education system. Nationally, Statistics Canada said, total spending on schools rose by 27.6 per cent over the survey period, to $47 billion in 2005-06 which significantly surpassed inflation which totaled 15.2 per cent during that period.
According to Bond, the B.C. government has initiated the following spending increases even though there are 50,000 fewer students in B.C. this coming year compared to 2000-01:
* $5.675 billion education budget - a 23-per-cent increase from 2000-01.
* $8,078 in estimated per student funding in 2008-09 - the highest ever, a $228 increase from 2007-08 and $1,862 more since 2000-01.
* $4.467 billion in estimated operating funding in 2008-09 - a $122-million increase from 2007-08.
* Close to $1.2-billion increase to B.C. public schools since 2000-01: $789 million in operating grants and $407 million in one-time grants.
* Total funding for students with special needs is now nearly three quarters of a billion dollars each year.
* $1.5 billion is being invested to upgrade schools to make them earthquake safe; the most comprehensive seismic plan ever undertaken by a B.C. government.
* Since 2001, government has spent more than $1.3 billion to complete 67 new and replacement schools, 147 additions, 25 renovation projects and 20 site acquisitions across B.C.
* By the end of 2008-09, the province will have invested more than $3.1 billion in school capital and maintenance projects across British Columbia since 2001.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 26 August 2008 )
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