Prince George school board chair Sharel Warrington is "very disappointed" the provincial government is asking school districts to return all of the money they saved during the teachers' strike earlier this month.
"Our position has always been, from the outset, that all the savings from the strike should remain in public education and specifically go back to districts to support student learning," Warrington said.
Education Minister Peter Fassbender has said the money will be used for the $40 parents will receive for each day of the strike.
In June, districts were allowed to keep 20 per cent of strike savings but Fassbender said there was a much larger burden then because the school year was winding down while schools were not reopened in September.
Warrington acknowledged the school district will be no worse off but maintained it is still underfunded.
"We still need to still find dollars to support vulnerable learners, we still need dollars to support our aging buildings," Warrington said. "There needs to be a greater interest in making sure that boards of education have the money to do the work we need to do."
In passing a balanced budget for 2014-15, trustees dipped into the district's reserves to the tune of $3.2 million, leaving just $6.6 million remaining in those accounts.
"Those surplus dollars will slowly disappear," Warrington said.
In a letter to school district secretary-treasurers, an assistant deputy minister of education asked districts to report all instances where spending was planned, but did not occur during the strike, including teacher wages, teacher benefits, staff replacement costs, utility and other facility costs, transportation, professional development, travel and supplies.
Districts are asked to report all savings where spending is not deferred to a later date and to report any increased costs due to the strike. The letter says the ministry will work with districts that are having financial difficulty as a result.
During the strike, Warrington said the B.C. School Trustess Association had suggested any savings from the strike go into the learning improvement fund, set up to hire more teachers each year. The sides eventually settled on $400 million over five years for the purpose.
— with files from Vancouver Sun
