Wednesday, May 21, 2008

More questions than answers when it comes to School board budget shortfall




With school closures announced over a month ago and now staff layoff notices reportedly issued last week the state of local education is nearing if not already at a crisis point.
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The closures and layoffs, combined with the promise of more tough decisions to come in the weeks to come, makes for a timeline of School District 52’s budget woes that is making for some very interesting conversations around town.

What has yet to be answered by the province is why 1 million dollars in funding was taken away from local school boards. On that vital financial point, there has been little in the way of information for the provinces educational hinterlands from the Ministry of Education out of Victoria, an interesting approach for a government that was once so concerned about that far off stretch of land they once christened as the “heartland of the province”

In Prince Rupert’s case, the reduction in one million dollars eliminated almost overnight a previous surplus of funding locally and put the local school district into a serious financial bind, destined to shed 1 million dollars in salary, with the first casualties reported to be some 40 support staff and at least 18 teachers.

While the province suggests that they are keeping true to the collective agreements across the province, the cuts are being made it seems in other areas of education funding that previously were provided with the required monies, taking from column A, to meet column B we guess on that great spreadsheet somewhere in a bunker in Victoria.

What seems mysterious about it all, is the lack of public input or transparent consultation from the province with local school boards and more importantly the citizens of the province. The province by its moves of late is leaving many hard hit communities across the province holding the bag, a very interesting approach to tending to the needs of those in the "heartland”.

The local MLA for Prince Rupert Gary Coons is collecting the information he needs to take the issue to the Legislature, which is what his job description covers we guess, though it seems these days the governing Liberals aren’t overly inclined to engage in debate let alone provide a reasoned explanation as to their mysterious moves

What seems missing on the local scene however, is a bit of outrage from the local politicians at city hall, who lately seem to frequently miss what's most on the minds of those that elected them it seems. There hasn't been much said out of Council chambers in recent weeks over the Provinces reduction of vital monies on the local scene and the subsequent job losses that will once again add anxiety to the community.
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Instead, the Mayor recounted recently how we're better off than we were five years ago, a concept that seems rather hard to wrap your head around at the moment, what with the state of affairs around town.
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Included on the list over the last five years has been a declining commercial sector, a still underused port, a closed and seemingly never to open again pulp mill, the fishing and forestry industries in crisis, a reduced population and with that, now school closures and layoffs coming.
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It makes for another spin of the economic cycle that will once again have local families making plans for the out migration pattern of the last few years.

While it's true that council has no sway over provincial education (and truth be told have more than enough problems of there own making to deal with) it still is an important local issue that is calling out for leadership on the local front.

Much has been made about the Mayor's cultivated relationships with the governing Liberals in the past, perhaps its time to call in a marker or two and get some straight answers as to what is going on when it comes to education and the effect that government policies are having on local communities.

City Council should be taking charge of the issue as well, making sure that they provide for Victoria a complete picture on how these changes are making for a devastating effect not only on the economy and employment picture in this hard struck community, but more importantly how these cuts and changes are affecting the lives of students in one of the most depressed areas of the province.

Thus far the contribution from the elected local officials has been mute, leaving a void that needs to be filled quickly to ensure that the interests of the city are made clear to Victoria.

The Liberals are making a habit of late of leaving large messes for local communities to try and solve on their own, the hard hit forestry sector across the province is one instance where the “heartland” seems to have been left to their own devices to sort out the devastation to their economies, now it seems that the education system is set to travel down the same path.

While it’s nice to get those giant cardboard cheques for Olympic Spirit parks and overseas travel junkets as well as any other program able to provide a handy visual backdrop, the real heavy lifting comes in those concerns that most affect the population, dwindling as it is. In this case, what is going on with education in this province and more importantly for locals, how it’s impacting in the way it is in Prince Rupert.

Perhaps some strongly worded statements and frequent phone calls to their partners in Victoria might help get the message across that some accountability is required on behalf of the provincial government to its citizens. An explanation as to why one million dollars has been ripped out of a still struggling community and why no one seems to have the time or apparent interest to come here and explain the details to a population that would like some answers.

The Daily News featured the pending cuts to the School District as their front page story in Monday’s paper; hopefully the Mayor and city council catch up on their reading and get busy trying to get some answers for their citizens.

We have a feeling it might be something of interest to the locals, something that the local government officials might like to find themselves on the right side of the issue with.


TEACHERS BRACE FOR BIG CUTS AS SCHOOLS BUDGET SLASHED
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Pages one and three

Just as things were starting to look brighter for the future of School District 52, it now appears that the district will need to cut more than $1 million in staff and resources for the 2008-09 school year, and even more the following year.

It was discovered at the most recent Advisory Budget Committee that the district will be forced to work with less for the next two years, likely resulting in the layoff of 40 support staff and 18 teachers.

"It's a lot of money to cut, and we're all still trying to fathom how you cut a million dollars from staff, because I think just about everybody would agree we're spread pretty thin already," said Tina Last, chair of School District 52.

"The government continues to say the collective agreement adjustments are fully funded, but what they've also done is taken more from different areas where we used to get more funding. So coincidentally, it's roughly the same amount as the collective agreement adjustments."

At the moment, school board trustees and staff are trying to determine if the situation is unique to Prince Rupert, or whether major budget shortcomings will be affecting school districts across the province. Last has reached out to other board chairs to see if they are finding the same budget shortcomings, and from the handful of responses she has received so far, it appears other districts are finding they also now have insufficient funds.

"Another district bigger than ours is having to cut a million [dollars] from their budget, so there may be a pattern developing where we're all coincidentally finding ourselves short a lot of money," said Last. "We already have many vulnerable kids and we're closing two schools, yet we're going to be cutting the very staff that will help those kids. There are no sacred cows and they are going to be cutting from the top to the bottom, but I don't know how you can cut a million dollars in staff without affecting the very people we're committed to helping, which are the students."

District staff will be putting together recommendations for how the budget cuts could be made, which will begin to unfold at the next two ABC meetings and then be approved by trustees at the final board meeting of the school year next month.

The board has requested North Coast MLA Gary Coons look into the situation and find out if he can help, and the board is also hoping the community of Prince Rupert will work with it to find a solution.

"This is devastating that this Liberal government is not funding their collective agreement commitments and putting it on the back of one of the most vulnerable districts in the province," said Coons.

"We recently saw Prince Rupert as having the second highest rate of child poverty in the province, and EDI scores indicating that more help and support is needed, but this minister continues to deny that help is desperately needed. As soon as I get the necessary information from the school board, I will follow up immediately with the minister, and I hope that all stakeholders and other elected officials take the rally call and act immediately for the sake of our children."

"We're a board of seven and we can make as much noise as we can, but this is a community problem as well," said Last. "If we have to cut, however many employees, those are people potentially with families and kids in school, and if they are without a job are they going to stay in Prince Rupert?

School District 52 has been one of the single biggest employers since the mill closed, so if we cut a million dollars in employees, those are families that will potentially leave our community. The ripple effect is huge."

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