The school district won't be able to back out of paying the provincial government for operation of a data collection system teachers are saying has been more trouble than it's worth.
The thought of withholding payments in protest for the poor performance of the British Columbia enterprise Student Information System (BCeSIS) was nixed during a school board meeting this week when trustees learned the money is "withdrawn from grants at source."
That means this school district's roughly $135,000 contribution - based on $10 per student - is subtracted from the funding it receives from the Ministry of Education.
Operated by a private company on behalf of the provincial government, the system is used by school districts across the province to track attendance and at the secondary level to input students' marks.
The system has been tagged as cumbersome and slow, particularly when it's under heavy use.
Trustees do have one more move up their sleeve as they agreed to support a British Columbia Trustees Association motion calling on the Ministry of Education to relieve school districts of any BCeSIS costs until software issues are resolved.
"It behooves us to actually support the BCSTA recommendation and hold this company accountable for making sure that the product they have out there is meeting the needs that they claim it will meet," said trustee Sharel Warrington.
Trustees have also sent a letter to the education minister outlining their concerns.
