School District 57 approved its budget at Tuesday's meeting, pulling over $420,000 from its surplus to balance the document.
That's less than half trustees were preparing to use Tuesday morning, before an unexpected provincial announcement gave back the $25 million in administrative savings it asked from school boards this year.
That put $622,655 back in play for the district, which it simply subtracted from the more than $1 million it had planned to take from surplus.
"Any new money or money infused into the system is a good thing but there was a big concern that there is still ($727,000) in admin savings that the government has not given back to the district," said chair Tony Cable Wednesday morning, in reference to the savings submitted to the province last year.
The district now has $2.5 million in its contingency fund. It sat at $4.2 million in June 2014.
The board passed a motion to ask Premier Christy Clark to meet with them and discuss the district, its rural schools and the administrative savings program.
"We have a lot of cost pressures," said Cable, referring to MSP premiums, rising BC Hydro rates, and exempt staff the Ministry of Education doesn't cover.
Cable said Tuesday's announcement is for one year, and trustees don't know if the program will be put back in place next year.
"The feeling around the table but getting this money back is a good thing but we still have a lot of work to do."
Board meeting highlights
- The education services community approved $230,000 be used on a sanitary sewer project and parking lot upgrades. The money was pulled from a special fund, specifically for local capital projects. Cable said there had been some complaints about pedestrian safety in the parking lot but that the sewer needed to be fixed before the lot could be touched. “We were quite worried because the school is on a septic system so definitely time to update it,” Cable said.
- The district passed a motion to support the city’s bid for 2020 or 2022 B.C. Summer Games
- During this year’s budget discussions, the board considered charging parents bussing fees to fulfill the administrative savings requirement. While that plan was ultimately scrapped, trustees discovered that it could run some of its routes more efficiently. So, on Tuesday nights trustees referred transportation to a committee to consider possibilities for route improvement.
- Cable said a report to the board showed a few high school students have taken on the new dual credit program between the district and University of Northern B.C. “That program seems to be working well,” Cable said.
