School board reviews 22 potential cuts to 2025 budget

Some difficult decisions are looming for School District 57’s board of trustees.

They will need to make $1,933,958 in cuts to the 2025 budget in order to balance it, and have until the end of June to do so.

The trustees met for a special mid-month board meeting tonight (Tuesday), where they discussed 22 possible cuts presented by district staff.

If all of the proposed cuts were to be made the board would shave off $2,398,300 – meaning $464,342 of these options can be left in a balanced budget.

You can see the proposed cuts here:

“We realize none of these are palatable, but we feel these are the recommendations furthest away from the classroom,” Superintendent Jameel Aziz said, after first presenting the list to the board.

The board and some community partners discussed these cuts for two hours, there were very few unanimous decisions (though cutting the $7,000 coffee supply budget was one).

Aziz clarified the first item on the list – reducing schools budgets by $30 a student.

“Last year, SD57 took the cost of custodial service, photocopiers, leases, and those items that go along with that,” he explained.

“Taking that back, and essentially paying for that, reduced cost of schools by $590,000. We left that money at the schools, the schools just saved $590,000. What we are proposing is taking $390,000 of that $590,000 the schools saved… they are not paying for the services anymore, but they are still getting the money.”

Currently, each school in SD57 is budgeted at $500 per student, which Aziz said covers learning resources, field trips, and other discretionary items.

Even still, that did not sit well with all the trustees.

“This is the one that I feel we should not implement,” Trustee Cory Antrim said. “I am in support of keeping the funding there, I feel this will impact every single student and staff member in the district… this is the number one that I would ask to stay in.”

Trustee Shar McCrory had an issue with the third item, increasing vice principals’ time in classrooms in certain schools.

“My concern is the consistency of learning for students,” she explained. “I feel it is already difficult for students to make connections in their schools. It just adds another layer, them having another teacher.”

Trustee Bob Thompson said while he agreed with McCrory’s opinion, he would support making that cut.

Trustee Sarah Holland took issue with cutting the District Learning Commons’ (DLC) budget.

“We are looking at the least bad decision – that said, I am not sure cutting the DLC is the least bad decision. If we reduce this, we reduce centralization and send out a lot more work into the schools,” she said.

“My concern with this is the access to usage and resources for our rural schools,” McCrory added. “I would suspect it is a huge asset to them. I don’t support this.”

Reducing hours of clerical staff members in the district was another proposed cut Holland did not agree with.

“Cutting the hours of some of our lower paid workers – we mentioned moving some positions from 12 months to 10 months. If anyone has any knows of a way of having bills stop for two months that would be ideal,” she said.

“We also need to consider retention,” McCrory added – bringing up a point previously presented by CUPE, that if hours and wages are cut, many secretaries will find other jobs.

The reduction of staffing allocations in Valemount item would remove SD57’s only counselor east of Prince George.

Thompson is the trustee from Valemount – he said he received hundreds of calls about this proposed cut from his community.

“I had parents cry on the phone. I had one parent say his life was saved by that worker because she recognized signs his parents weren’t noticing. I received calls from mayor and council,” he said. “The principal of the Valemount Secondary School has told me many times prior to this how that one worker has transformed those schools.”

“We are not funded for that,” Holland said. “If we are meeting that need with this money, we are taking money away from other areas in the district.”

She suggested asking the Robson Valley municipalities to help chip in for the counseling this employee provides to the community.

Some trustees were also opposed to charging families to use school busses.

“It is a safety concern if people are using the bus as a backup option and we are charging a fee so it is not a backup, what is the backup? Walking home on the highway?” Holland asked. “This may also lead to a slippery slope of charging for busses,” citing some districts that charge $450 per student for bussing services.

“I would be in support of this,” Trustee Erica McLean said. “However, for the families that really rely on these services – particularly those that live in rural communities, I will not support a registration fee for them.”

You can find more information on the budget, including the results of an 800-person poll taken by SD57, here.

Following the meeting, Brennan spoke with the media about the days and weeks that are ahead for his board.

“My basic philosophy is to keep the cuts away from the schools. In this case, almost all of the cuts impact schools in one way or another,” he said.

“[It is] a daunting task… In a very healthy debate and discussion, there is not agreement in any of the items. Maybe a few of the smaller ones.”

“Now it is a question of moving it from this discussion to something we can have a vote on,” Brennan continued.

He said previous boards had covered the structural deficit with a surplus the district had in the bank which has since been depleted.

In the coming days, Brennan said SD57 staff will take their notes from the meeting and begin to whittle down some of the cuts and present a balanced budget to be voted on.

“Staff is going to give us the best representation, including the input we heard tonight. ‘Here is the best looking scenario, what we think for a balanced budget.’ Then the trustees will need to decide,” Brennan said. “In the background, you have the end of June deadline. That is non-negotiable.”