Secretary treasurer Nicholas Weswick reported at the April 9 school board meeting that schools will see more money in the 2013/2014 budget, which is currently being worked on.
"We received a funding announcement middle of March from the Ministry and then we had a couple of weeks with which to take that information and redraft it, redraft our district budget and preserve as much funding as we could at the school level," Weswick said.
"So we are happy to announce that we were able, with the support of the board, to increase school-based funding by $2,000 per school and make some marginal increases in the per-pupil amount at the elementary school level, and then also increase the support for level two and three students in the amount of $500 per student for each of those levels."
He said the extra money came from an increase in per-pupil funding from the province as well as some "unique geographic features funding."
The next step in the budget process is to look at staffing plans submitted by schools.
The preliminary budget will be presented at the May board meeting.
Ground breaking
The official ground-breaking ceremony and open house for the new Gibsons Elementary School was announced at the April 9 school board meeting.
The public is invited to attend the ground-breaking ceremony on Friday, May 3, at 1:30 p.m.
ERASE bullying
Fifteen staff members and three local members of the RCMP recently attended an ERASE Bullying workshop geared toward secondary schools and sponsored by the Ministry of Education.
The workshop focused on identifying students at risk of committing threatening or violent behaviour.
Twenty staff members attended a separate ERASE Bullying workshop focused on elementary schools and creating safe and supportive school cultures.
Outdoor education
Trustee Christine Younghusband provided an update on the outdoor education program the school district wanted to run in the 2013/2014 school year.
She wrote in her education committee report that while there wasn't enough interest to start a program this year, there is now an "opportunity to better develop a viable program that will garner student interest."
It was noted that students' involvement in the planning might increase their interest in the program.
More discussion on the subject will come to a future education committee meeting.
Common timetable
Elphinstone Secondary principal John Brisebois wants a common timetable between all three high schools on the Coast to better serve students.
At the education committee meeting, he said that with the decline in enrolment, a common timetable would allow for more course options for students.
The committee agreed that the change would be beneficial and assistant superintendent of schools Greg Kitchen will meet with Brisebois soon to discuss the idea further.
Next meeting
The next school board meeting will be held on May 14 at 7 p.m. at the school board office in Gibsons.
