Kamloops-Thompson Board of Education seeks feedback on its 2025-26 preliminary budget

Photo: Contributed

Kamloops-Thompson Board of Education Trustee John O'Fee

On April 9, our school board and school district staff presented the Kamloops-Thompson School District’s 2025-2026 preliminary budget in a live streamed event that has been viewed by more than 1,500 people.

School boards across B.C. face static funding and rising costs. With no direct taxing authority, B.C. school districts will be looking for ways to reduce expenses to align with revenues. Presuming our board approves the preliminary budget as presented on April 28, the district will move to a sustainable financial position, with an approximate annual budget of $251 million.

Our recent budget presentation highlighted the significant financial challenges our District, and others around the province are facing. Throughout this budget development process, we have tried to balance the priorities set out for us by the government, feedback from our District and school communities, and the realities of inflationary and funding pressures.

The district’s 2022-2027 District Strategic Plan helped guide our budget priorities, including intellectual development, human and social development, cultural and identity development, career development, and systems development.

Throughout this process, district staff and board engaged in robust community consultation with employee partner groups, Indigenous rights holders, staff, parents, students and school communities on the district's budget priorities and challenges. The four-month consultation process included 20 focus group meetings with CUPE 3500, the Kamloops-Thompson Teachers’ Association, the Kamloops-Thompson Principals’ and Vice Principals’ Association, the District Parent Advisory Council, the District Student Advisory Council and the Indigenous Education Council, as well as a public survey and email feedback.

That resulted in approximately 290 responses from the community, all of which were carefully considered.

As a board, we appreciate the input of all the community members who gave of their time and energy to contribute their thoughts on spending priorities.

The consultation and feedback highlighted the importance of providing support for students, curriculum and programming. While developing the 2025-2026 budget, we applied this feedback and focused on maintaining classroom-based staff to ensure the well-being and academic success of our students.

Our priorities focus on retaining programming that matters to students, parents, and staff, while limiting curricular programming reductions to certain non-funded programming and staff.

School district funding is based on student enrolment. Recent years have seen the district grow at approximately 250 students annually. That resulted in increased revenue helping to offset increased costs over the last four years and used the capacity of existing school facilities more efficiently. Demographics are now shifting across B.C. and like many districts, SD73 can no longer rely on increased revenue from substantial enrolment growth.

Also, like districts across the province, we are grappling with funding that is not keeping pace with cost increases, inflationary pressures and increased support needed for students with complex needs. We anticipate $5.79 million in cost increases for the next school year comprised of higher salaries, employee benefits, inflation, school bus and support equipment replacement, portable moving costs, new school opening costs and services and supplies increases.

Many of those cost pressures are not funded and must be absorbed into existing budgets. While partially offset by retirements, meeting our fiscal responsibility will necessitate some staff reductions.

All those pressures necessitate difficult recommendations in the development of the 2025-2026 preliminary budget. School Boards are elected to fulfill a multi-faceted mandate.

One aspect of that role is to align revenues and expenses. While we can collectively lobby the provincial government for funding increases, we cannot simply abdicate our responsibility and refuse to take the necessary steps. To do so would simply result in the loss of local representation, termination of the board and the appointment of a provincial administrator.

The board wants this process to be clear and transparent. Any member of the public can view our budget presentation here.

There is still time to provide feedback on the 2025-2026 preliminary budget. Please submit your comments by April 21 to budgetfeedback@sd73.bc.ca. After considering final input from employee groups and members in the community, the board of education will vote on the final budget on April 28.

The board thanks all its staff, partners and community members who took the time to learn about this preliminary budget and provide input. This will be a difficult process but we will remain focused on protecting the classroom to the full extent we are able.

John O'Fee is Kamloops-Thompson Board of Education trustee.