Prince George school board gave final reading Tuesday night to a budget for the 2014-15 school year that saw trustees scramble to make ends meet.
As part of making up a $5.4-million shortfall, they dipped into reserves to the tune of $3.2 million leaving just $6.6 remaining in those accounts.
Additional steps included ordering all schools and departments to cut their spending by 0.5 per cent, adding up to $597,000,finding a further $1.35 million by fine-tuning projected expenses based on prior year experiences and identifying $157,000 in revenues not previously recognized in past budgets.
Trustee Tim Bennett, who chairs the management and finance committee, said finding ways to balance the budget was the toughest experience he had had to face in the three years he has been on school board and maintained the problem is the provincial government is not providing enough funding.
Other trustees gave similar comments.
"I don't think any of us enjoy the fact that our funding is inadequate, that we're not in a sustainable position operationally and to draw such a large amount out of surplus is something that we are doing for next year to ensure there is not significant layoffs and the children currently in the system aren't severely affected," trustee Brenda Hooker said.
"But we are going to have to address this if the funding formula isn't changed."
Trustees have drafted a letter to Premier Christy Clark and Education Minister Peter Fassbender calling for funding that accounts for costs of school upgrades, provincially-bargained wage and salary hikes, inflation and federally and provincially mandated increases to spending.
Partner groups, such as the Prince George and District Teachers Association, Canadian Union of Public Employees and Prince George District Parent Advisory Council, have been asked to join trustees in signing the letter.
