Photo: Castanet

The Kamloops-Thompson school district board of education approved next year's budget at a meeting Monday, April 29.

Monday evening was a "somber" occasion for School District 73's board of education as it approved next year's budget — and dozens of staffing cuts along with it.

SD73 is facing an estimated $5.8 million budget shortfall due to cost increases for replacements and teacher salaries, benefits and inflation, among other factors.

About 25.5 full-time equivalent positions for teaching staff have been cut, which accounts for $3.26 million.

Budget cuts also include seven FTE positions for counsellors and learning assistance teachers, 10.5 FTE positions for district-level teachers, and eight FTE positions for district-level secondary allocations.

Support staff will be cut by about 46.5 FTE, accounting for $2 million. Other cuts also include 17 FTE in custodial time, five FTE through attrition in trades and grounds positions, and 24.5 FTE for other job classifications.

Two administrative assistants and one district principal reduced this year will carry over for next year’s budget, accounting for $590,000. Exempt positions will continue to be reviewed, and SD73 said vice-principal positions will be reduced if enrolment falls.

The budget was approved at the board's meeting on Monday, April 29.

Feedback showed priorities

SD73 Superintendent Rhonda Nixon said the school district decided on its priorities using feedback gathered since the beginning of the year and after presenting the preliminary budget earlier this month.

“That actually helped us decide how to reduce,” she said. “As upsetting as it is to reduce, it was at least good to know what do people need us to protect the most.”

A strategy proposed earlier this month that would have seen teacher librarians cover Kindergarten to grade three classes during teacher breaks was removed — but this means more reductions for district-level teachers.

No classroom teachers or certified education assistants will be axed.

District-level supplies and services will be reduced by $350,000, a 4 per cent transaction fee for online payments has been added and SD73 facility rental rates will be hiked as well.

During Monday's board meeting, trustee Kathleen Karpuk said these budget discussions were the most difficult she's experienced in her 16 and a half years on the school board.

Trustee John O'Fee said the cuts in next year's budget weren't taken lightly by the board, noting the school district has no ability to increase revenue, like a municipality might do through taxation.

"We're all fairly somber around the table here for good reason, and it's because we don't have other options," he said.

Slashing district supplies first

Nixon said the now-approved reductions in its 2025-26 budget are not the result of a $2 million accounting error made last year, but due to cost increases being felt across the province.

“When we began this process, we first tried to reduce supplies and services to the level that we would have no staff reductions,” Nixon said.

“Of course, that's impossible when the budget is 11 per cent supplies and services and 89 per cent staffing."

After discovering its accounting error last year, SD73 slashed supplies and services by about $1.6 million as part of a budget reduction plan, and another $1.5 million after that to help offset increases to teacher salaries.

When asked if any budget reduction strategies following last year's accounting error impacted what was available to reduce for this budget, Nixon said last year’s reductions were done to reach a stable financial position.

“It changed that we were at least not entering the process in deficit, so we were entering with less than a one per cent surplus of $390,000,” Nixon said.

At this rate, it will take SD73 ten years to build its emergency operating reserve to $6.5 million. Last year’s accounting error dropped SD73’s operating reserves from $3.37 million to $1.45 million.

Advocacy to continue

Local DPAC chair Bonnie McBride told Castanet last week she wanted the board to reject the budget as a political stand and demand the ministry implement changes to its school district funding model.

Board chair Heather Grieve said she could appreciate McBride’s ask, but a decision to do so would cost the trustees their jobs and their ability to advocate to the ministry.

“We would not have representation at the table that would be local, connected with our community, aware of the local issues that we’re currently facing," Grieve said.

“To make a stand and resign would stop our ability to have conversations at the ministry level, with our partners at the BC School Trustee Association, with our MLAs, with our mayor and council who we can hopefully continue to advocate alongside very loudly to our ministry about in terms of the the funding issues that we're facing."

Board can’t suspend all pay

While trustee Jo Kang planned to propose a motion that would suspend all trustee pay, Grieve said during the meeting the board had received legal advice that the motion couldn’t be tabled.

“A board cannot set trustee remuneration to zero for all trustees based on Section 13, so therefore this motion actually can't be made as it's not keeping with our own board policy,” she said.

However, Grieve noted individual trustees could independently choose to donate their stipend back to the school district.

“I will add the reason why this came back publicly, in terms of legal counsel, is because we didn't have an opportunity to discuss this as a Board of Education before all media outlets were notified about it and told about the motion that was being brought forward — which made it a public discussion,” Grieve said.

Trustee Cole Hickson said he didn’t like the matter being discussed publicly, adding trustees could volunteer to donate their stipend privately without “trying to make this a big thing,” as he had done himself.

Hickson said he thought the response to Kang’s proposed motion was “more than what the motion put forward.”