Photo: Castanet

DPAC chair Bonnie McBride said school district funding was past the point of being able to create workable budgets for the 2025-26 school year.

The local district parent advisory council is putting out a call to action as it lobbies the provincial government to shake up its funding model for school districts as local schools face potential job cuts.

SD73's proposed 2025-26 budget would see teaching staff slashed by $3.5 million, about 27.5 full-time equivalents. Support staff are looking at $2 million in cuts, about 49 FTE workers.

A further $750,000 would be cut in administrative positions, supplies and services.

In a 16-page document sent Monday to Premier David Eby, Finance Minister Brenda Bailey and Lisa Beare, minister of education and child care, the DPAC says the proposed SD73 budget won’t meet the needs of students, will exacerbate achievement gaps and will “move us farther from our targets for supporting success for all students.”

The letter said there is a “long-term systemic underfunding of education in B.C.," and per-student funding, grants, specialized funds, agreements and one-time funding announcements don’t allow for boards to create stable three-year budget cycles.

Speaking with Castanet Kamloops, DPAC chair Bonnie McBride said school district funding was past the point of creating workable budgets for next year.

“We cannot deliver the programs that our children deserve in schools without a pivot and a redirection of funds from this government for this next fiscal year,” she said.

McBride said services for counselling, speech therapy, psychologists and other health services offered in schools should be funded by the ministry of health.

Funding at record high

SD73 said increases to next year’s budget are a result of soaring relief costs, enrolment beginning to plateau and static funding from the province despite a rise in students with complex needs.

In a statement to Castanet, the ministry of education and child care said it is focused on supporting districts and quality education during “uniquely challenging fiscal and political times.”

The ministry said B.C.’s 2025 budget adds an additional $323 million in classroom enhancement funding over three years for districts to continue hiring teachers and support staff.

According to the ministry, per-student funding has increased to an average of more than $13,500 per student — a B.C. record — with more than $8 billion including special grants in 2024-25.

“This includes almost $220 million in operating and special grants for SD73,” the statement said.

The ministry said it provides support for districts, but it is the responsibility of elected boards to decide how best to allocate funding to meet their needs of their communities.

“Funding and planning are largely driven by student enrolment, and population trends are beginning to change. This year's enrolment growth is lower than last year,” the ministry said.

“While school districts manage their budgets, the ministry is committed to working collaboratively with all districts, including the Kamloops-Thompson School District, to ensure funding is utilized as effectively as possible to support students' success now and into the future.”

Can't do more with less

McBride said the cuts in SD73’s proposed 2025-26 budget would further exacerbate literacy and numeracy gaps for Indigenous students, as well as students with disabilities and complex needs.

“We cannot possibly fix that problem and do a better job with less,” McBride said.

McBride said she wants the SD73 board of education to reject the proposed budget at its meeting next week, adding parents want assurances the needs of students will be met.

She took issue with the proposed budget’s goal of building its capital reserves. She said the money should instead be put back into the district’s operating budget for next year.

“It really is buying smoke alarm batteries when the house is on fire,” McBride said. “They can't let good education disappear from the narrative, because they can only provide the education they can afford.”

Board chair Heather Grieve told Castanet earlier this month the reserves would allow the district to cover unforeseen circumstances, and SD73 was confident it was on pace to build up the reserves to “be meaningful to assist us if we were ever in a situation where we needed it.”

Meeting with MLAs

The DPAC will meet with five local MLAs this Friday to ask for support in lobbying the ministry to pivot its funding model. McBride said “we need all of the players at the table.”

“We have every expectation that we will be invited to a meeting with the government, with the province — that is our hard line,” she said.

“They have to listen to this.”