Student enrolment in School District 57 continues to fall, and school board officials anticipate that trend will continue every year until at least 2016.
While overall numbers are dropping, some schools in the Hart and College Heights areas are at or over capacity, according to a school board report produced by the District Parent Advisory Council.
Although the current student population of 12,767 is expected to drop by 266 students to 12,501 in the 2012-13 school year, superintendent Brian Pepper said there is no imminent threat of school closures.
"At this point, other than enrolment decline, we believe we're quite stable with our school budgeting and the board has had no discussions with senior staff about school closure," Pepper said.
The board projects total school population to plunge to 11,943 by 2016. By comparison, the district's student population in 2000-01 was 18,147.
Nineteen of the district's 45 schools are expected to grow in numbers next year and Pepper said that might be an indication the years of major enrolment drops that led to 22 school closures from 2001 to 2010 are now behind School District 57.
Public schools are funded based on their student populations as of the end of September. In the current school year, each student brought in $8,930 in provincial funding, which went into the school district's operating budget. The district currently operates 45 schools in Prince George, Mackenzie, Valemount and McBride, including eight secondary schools, 31 elementaries, and one centre for learning alternatives
Until February, when trustees approved a DPAC request, student projection figures were considered confidential. DPAC chair Don Sabo said he appreciates the school board has released the enrolment report on its website for public consumption, but the board needs to release figures on school capacity and identify all schools where enrolment has been capped. Sabo said that information is critical for parents of students approaching school age or are changing schools and want to know if they can attend school in the neighbourhood in which they live.
"We want to know how many parents and students are being turned away, that's the useful part of about the district enrolment and capacity report," said Sabo.
In the College Heights area, College Heights, Beaverly, Malaspina, Vanway and Southridge elementaries are at or exceed their nominal capacities (based on 20 kindergarten students per classroom, and 25 K-12 students per class). Glenview and Hart Highlands elementaries in the Hart area, Heritage elementary in the bowl area, and Morphee elementary in Mackenzie are all operating at or beyond capacity. At some of those schools, portable classrooms have been installed to deal with overcrowding.
DPAC wants the board to issue an annual report on student enrolment and how schools are being managed in relation to school capacity.
"When does it become feasible to open a closed elementary school like Gladstone to relieve the pressure on Malaspina?" asked Sabo.
The student enrolment projection breakdown of each individual school can be seen on the district website, www.sd57.bc.ca. The school enrolment report is on the district's DPAC site, sd57dpac.ca.
