School District 43 will need to cut 142 jobs across all departments in order to balance its budget for next year.
Superintendent Tom Grant, aided by assistant secretary treasurer Chris Nicolls, dolled out the grim news Tuesday and promised more details next week, although he admitted the cuts, which amount to about 6% of the district's staff, will be "massive" and felt at all levels.
According to Grant, SD43 must pare $12.5 million from its 2013/'14 budget in order to balance it and that means dozens of teachers, administrators and support workers will be laid off, although retirements will offset some of those losses.
Grant also accepted blame for mistakes that led up to the district's current financial difficulties but said some of the problems are due to chronic provincial underfunding and downloading of costs not recovered through grants from Victoria.
"We will get more dollars [next year]," Grant said. "The revenue, however, barely covers half of the downloaded costs that we will need to find within our existing budget already. And when you see the numbers, you will see we will have cost pressures that will result in millions of dollars of reductions."
CUTS SHOULD HAVE BEEN MADE
Unlike cities, which can raise taxes, Grant said the district has no choice but to make cuts in order to fund an anticipated $4 million in higher benefit costs for current and retired employees, plus changes in accounting required by the Public Sector Accounting Board.
Still, he was apologetic about errors in accounting that contributed to the problem last year, when decisions were made to add staff instead of cutting bodies, which is what should have been done.
"At first, the numbers didn't look good [but] during the process, the numbers became much more manageable and in thinking we had additional resources, we added some extra staff," Grant said. "In reality, we should have been reducing last year rather than reducing this year."
The news was greeted with subdued but pointed criticism by parents, teachers and support workers who crowded into an over-heated Gallery Room at Winslow Centre to hear the district's plans for cutting resources to schools, starting in September.
COQUITLAM MAYOR EMPATHIZES
Heidi Hass Gable, president of the District Parent Advisory Council, called for more openness and transparency.
Coquitlam Teachers' Association representatives demanded a forensic audit and a public apology from the board.
And CUPE Local 561 president Dave Ginter, who represents district support staff, said some administrators should resign.
"As we leave, those people will still be here," Ginter said, calling for an end to the practice where managers get two weeks vacation to compensate them for overtime.
Coquitlam Trustee Diane Sowden admitted the cuts will be "devastating."
Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart, whose wife is a public school teacher and who has a child at Dr. Charles Best secondary school, said he empathized with trustees and said the city would do what it could to find ways to cooperate and reduce costs.
