Secretary Treasurer Nicholas Weswick presented a balanced budget for adoption at the May 14 School District No. 46 (SD46) board meeting.
The $39 million budget for the 2013/14 school year sees increased funding for schools and some students, Weswick reported.
"Really happy to be able to increase the funding to the schools in the form of increased base supports and certainly increased special education funding per pupil," he said. "We've increased level two support and level three support to the tune of $500 per student and then made minor adjustments to the per pupil amounts for the elementary level and secondary level. Secondary decreased slightly because of higher than expected class sizes as well as a redirecting in school funding to accommodate the increased network access to support increased opportunities for kids to learn through YouTube and other sites that have higher bandwidth needs."
He explained this is the second year SD46 has used the new statement format from the province that demands they budget for special purpose and capital funds.
The change results in a line in the 2013/14 budget that shows a deficit of $383,163.
"That's the difference between amortization expense and recognition of differed capital revenuebasically the depreciation on the buildings being recognized against the money that was received to pay for those buildings long ago," Weswick explained. "So that's a perfectly normal number and it's being covered out of capital surplus funds."
Trustees unanimously adopted the budget that may see some changes when SD46 finds out the actual number of students registered for the upcoming school year.
Cowrie consult
Trustees expressed their displeasure at being left out of the consultation process around changing Cowrie Street to a one-way road, choosing to write a letter to Sechelt council to convey their discontent.
Trustee Lori Pratt moved the letter be written and noted SD46 has two schools in the area that could be impacted by any change.
"I'm very disappointed that we weren't even on the list of referrals for consultation," Pratt said.
StrongStart
Superintendent of Schools Patrick Bocking reported that StrongStart is expanding next year.
The program will be open on Saturdays at Roberts Creek Community School and in the Early Learning Centre in Sechelt.
"Many parents have told us that this is a need for them as they are not able to attend during their work days. Further, we will be keeping the Sechelt Learning Centre StrongStart program open two days per week for six weeks in the summer," Bocking reported.
Environmental education
On June 10 SD46 will hold a public forum on environmental education to celebrate what's being done in the district, connect to the community and discuss how to support more environmental and outdoor education on the Coast.
The forum will start at 5:30 p.m. in the Chatelech Secondary School foyer.
