Union presidents for the Coast's teachers and school support staff are warning Coast parents to expect serious cutbacks to schools' library services and special education support in the fall.
School District No. 46 (SD46) superintendent Deborah Palmer said while the district is still in the midst of 2010/11 budget planning, individual schools have completed their preliminary budgets, pending September's final enrolment figures.
And Sunshine Coast Teachers' Association president Jenny Garrels and Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 801 president Carolyn Smith said parents should brace for cuts.
Garrels said the Coast's three secondary schools will see teacher-librarian time cut by half for the fall. Smith added clerical support in the libraries has been cut back at Chatelech Secondary School and cut altogether at Elphinstone Secondary School.
"In an industry that's supposed to be promoting literacy, it just makes me sick to think how they've cut," Smith said. "They've just cut it to the bone, and then they've cut it beyond that."
Palmer said she's keeping the school board informed about the reductions in teacher-librarian time and library clerical support.
"Certainly if the opportunity arises to put some additional funding back into the system, I'd encourage the board to look at [libraries]," Palmer said.
Smith said CUPE is also concerned about cuts to special education teaching assistant (SETA) positions and cutbacks to SETAs' hours. Smith said the cutbacks mean that students with special needs won't be provided with SETA supervision before and after school and at break time and that SETAs will no longer be allocated prep time to co-ordinate with classroom teachers.
Palmer said some of the SETA cuts are the result of grouping some students into a new district autism program -a program which, she said, will allow for staffing cost-savings plus a better educational program for students.
"Rather than just cutting and cutting and cutting, sometimes you have to look at your delivery method or model and maybe come up with a different model," Palmer said.
Palmer added the district, which is grappling with a funding shortfall of approximately $1 million plus declining enrolment, is looking at a four to six per cent staffing reduction for the fall across all levels of district employees: teachers, support staff, and administration.
"Funding continues to be a challenge in education," Palmer said. "We try to continue to provide the best service we can to the kids in our district, and I think School District 46 does an exemplary job given the situation."
