School District 43's projected deficit has grown dramatically since the board of education first revealed its financial woes in January.
But board chair Melissa Hyndes says she has confidence in the board and district administrators to bring the situation under control.
On Tuesday, SD43 superintendent Tom Grant revealed this year's school operating deficit would be about $8 million by the end of June - not the $7.5 million originally identified in January and not the $2.5 million that figure had been whittled down to a month later.
And next year's deficit could be $12 million without drastic cuts.
The Coquitlam Teachers' Association is calling for a forensic audit to find out what went wrong but B.C.'s Ministry of Education is satisfied SD43 is dealing with the problem and a plan to eliminate the deficit will be worked out this summer.
"Ministry staff will continue to meet with the district to review their deficit retirement planning and work closely with staff at the district to ensure there's minimal impact to students and programs," said Scott Sutherland, a ministry spokesperson.
Education Minister Don McRae was traveling and unable to speak to The Tri-City News before the print deadline, and it will be next Tuesday before more detailed information is available about how the district plans to whittle down next year's projected $12 million deficit.
The district's figures show that without cuts for the school year starting in September, overspending would again be $8 million based on current costs plus another $4 million in additional costs such as hikes to CPP, EI, extended health and higher pension plan premiums. As well, utility fees for district buildings are expected to rise along with special education needs costs and inflation.
Enrolment, which had been growing by about 250 students a year, has also slowed.
The impact of erasing an $8-million deficit for this school year over time plus $12 million in potential cuts for the next school year (2013/'14) is expected to be felt across the district.
"I understand people are shocked," Hyndes said.
The Port Moody trustee said the burgeoning deficit is not random but the outcome of having more people on staff than there is funding for.
"Mistakes were made," she said. "No doubt about it. Now that they've been made and we've seen what the problem is, now is the time we can move to make it right."
But she promised that new programs, such as Reggio Emilio elementary education and the Inquiry Hub, would be protected because they are funded by provincial grants of about $6,900 per student.
Still, many people will wonder how this situation could have come to pass in a school district lauded as a "lighthouse"district for the province, with many innovative programs serving its 30,000 students.
In his presentation Tuesday, Grant (who did not return calls to The Tri-City News before the print deadline yesterday) said problems arose with budgeting last year: The district over-projected enrolment and revenues, under-projected costs and expenditures, and did not build in any contingencies.
Hyndes said the district has a clearer idea of what went wrong and how to fix it and will be hiring a new secretary treasurer soon (Rick Humphreys resigned Jan. 1, citing personal and health reasons).
And she said she has confidence in the board and the senior leadership team to deal with the situation.
"We are confident," she said. "We have had somebody come in and take a critical look at practices we're moving forward to looking how we provide the programming we have - with less resources, of course."
She said she wouldn't make excuses but said the situation is "heartbreaking."
"We have such a great vision for SD43 and it's such a great district to work in. For us to be going back to a 2002 situation, it's kind of devastating," Hyndes acknowledged.
While the ministry says it will continue to work with the district, it maintains that a lack of funding is not the problem. Last year, for example, the combined deficit total among three of 60 districts was $6.6 million at the same time that $226 million in surpluses had been accumulated, excluding unfunded future benefits.
The ministry's Sutherland said it's up to each school board to make local decisions and manage its budget prudently.
