Cariboo-Chilcotin Teachers’ Association (CCTF) president Murray Helmer says School District #27 (SD27) could fund more for its local schools – if it was only willing to spend its operating money, rather than stashing it away in surplus accounts.
These local CCTF issues dovetail in neatly with ongoing concerns that the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) laid out in a Sept. 21 report to MLAs, he adds.
The BCTF report points to the provincial government’s recently announced $2-billion surplus, in the face of a continuing “underfunding crisis” in B.C. schools, Helmer explains.
“The provincial government is announcing its huge surplus, and at the same time, our local district, again for the third year running, has a huge surplus.”
Helmer says SD27 doesn’t even fund what it agrees to (by budgeting for), which leaves a tidy surplus in its coffers that would be better spent on classroom supports in schools.
The CCTA wants the trustees to “at least spend what they intend to spend when they make their budget.
“This year, their instructional budget was $39 million, and they only spent $37.5 million. They underspend … to generate that surplus, and they always take it out of the instructional area.
“So, it’s frustrating when [the SD27 trustees] look at the budget and they always say ‘we have this shortfall’ – it never turns into a shortfall.”
However, SD27 chair Tanya Guenther says there are anticipated contingencies the district does “budget” for in its funding, such as teachers on sick leave.
“There is never anything that is underspent intentionally. It would be budgeted and allocated for the purposes [intended].”
Meanwhile, Helmer notes that in 2015/16, the surplus they had in the operating budget was $3.6 million, but by June 30, 2016 its overall surplus had grown to $3.7 million.
Within that, there are some fairly stable, school-based resource/supply budgets and other targeted money for special purpose programs, such as First Nations education, he notes.
Helmer explains the SD27 financial statements reviewed last week shows $2.5 million in operating funds, with $1 million of that already set aside for programs that its trustees and staff deem need more funding.
“They indicate every year that they are going to spend [all of] that, and every year they never need to.
“They always have a contingency fund that is not [allocated] for anything and so coming out of 2016 is $1.5 million in contingencies….”
However, Kevin Futcher, SD27 corporate financial officer/secretary treasurer says the audited financial statements show it ended the school year with a $47,422 surplus on revenues of just over $60 million.
The school district has set aside $1,477,838 in a restricted fund for future reconfiguration and reorganization processes, he explains.
Guenther adds even anticipating how many days the district’s teachers and other staff will actually be sick and paid out can’t be totally accurate, but they still need to budget for them.
“There are many times where there are instructional dollars that may not be able to be spent, in the event that there are not enough teachers on call to cover and replace other staff members who aren’t there, so we have to budget for those.
“There are always going to be some of those … what governments call “surpluses” as it’s sitting on the books – but it is oftentimes already accounted for, for specific purposes that just haven’t been spent yet.”
However, Helmer maintains the stance that this surplus money continues to exist every year, and every year there are needs in SD27 schools that aren’t being met.
“In staffing alone, [this could fund non-enrolling] areas where we are always coming up short – in support services, counselling, teacher-librarians….”
Helmer adds CCTF teachers told him that SD27 expected enrolment to decline this year at the 100 Mile House, Mile 108 and Horse Lake elementary schools, so it reduced its non-enrolling budgets – but didn’t replenish them when these schools showed increased enrolment numbers – each adding an entire new classroom.
Futcher says the process of staffing schools begins in the spring and is based on estimated student enrolment for the following September.
“Once September arrives and students register in schools, we review the staffing levels and hire staff accordingly.”
More information on the stance of the provincial BCTF, as presented to MLAs, is online at www.bctf.ca/NewsReleases.aspx.
