Staff burnout, chronic underfunding and parents making up the difference in spending cuts with fundraising are some of the concerns of District Parent Advisory Council chair Heidi Hass Gable has about plans to cut $12.1 million from School District 43's budget next year.
The cuts to next year's operating budget are necessary to bring spending in line with provincial operating grants of about $245 million plus about $21 million in other revenue; SD43 proposes to cut 142 positions, including teachers, custodians, managers, clerks and people who work with special needs students.
But several groups oppose the cuts and are expected to present their cases to the board of education tonight.
As well, the board of education is expected to consider some revisions to the budget and a plan to set up a new budget committee with representation from teachers, support workers, parents and administrators.
In the meantime, DPAC's Hass Gable is concerned that while some of the proposed cuts may not be felt immediately, ongoing chronic shortfalls will take a toll in the long run.
"Something has to give, it has to do," she said. "I have absolutely no doubt that teachers, SEAs [special education assistants] and everyone is going to be professional and working hard but people have limits.
"It's not sustainable to ask people to work 150% every day forever. People get sick, there's stress," Hass Gable said.
In fact, some of the proposed cuts are in areas that parents said in a recent Thoughtstream survey that they valued most.
For example, support for special needs students and quality teaching were identified as important in the DPAC survey but the district plans to reduce services for students and gut its staff development department, which provides education and support for teachers.
"If you have one person who has an influence on 100 teachers, 100 teachers touch 2,000 to 3,000 kids' lives, that ripple effect could be really felt," she said.
"When changes come down, [from the education ministry] who's going to help them change their practices?" she asked.
DOWNLOADING
She's also worried that downloading is making parents responsible for fundraising for books, computers and buses for field trips, which she says are necessary for learning.
She said it's not fair that some schools have more capacity for fundraising and some individuals are better at writing grant applications than others while some schools lag behind.
"Parents are paying for essentials and the inequity that creates is just horrible," Hass Gable said.
Her concern about parents filling in the gaps in funding come as the district claws back $1 million in school-based funds used to pay for computer labs and special learning resources. Schools were told how much to give back from their allocation based on a sliding scale. Rochester elementary in Coquitlam, for example, stated in its parent advisory council meeting minutes that it had to give back $3,000 destined for computers and learning resources as part of its share.
Principal Barb Gillies said the money hadn't yet been earmarked but it will be missed. "What we did is we looked at how much we were expected to give back and we looked at accounts where it would have the least impact on students," Gillies said.
It's the gradual erosion of programs seen as extras to pay for core services that eventually trickle down to schools and has Hass Gable concerned about maintaining education standards not just for this year and next but for future years, as well.
She would like to see parents, teachers, support workers and administrators work together to advocate for education funding that is sustainable and equitable over the long term.
"I do believe we need to come together and make sure we're taking care of each other because this will be a difficult time."
