Increases in employment benefits and utility costs, higher than expected substitute costs and declining enrollment are behind an $8 million deficit this year and a projected $12 million deficit next year, according to School District 43.
The news was broken Tuesday night at a regularly scheduled board meeting.
Half the room had emptied by the time Superintendent Tom Grant dropped the bombshell - a year-end deficit believed to be $2.5 million had ballooned to $8.1 million based on current trends, and the district was facing $12.1 million in cuts for next year.
The news, when it came, was a shock to many.
"I am so amazingly flabbergasted I can't put into words how you could make a $13 million mistake," was Coquitlam Teachers' Association president Teresa Grandinetti's comment, computing the figure for this year's (2012/2013) projected deficit that was originally thought to be $7.5 million before the district started making $5 million in non-staff cuts.
"This is not chump change, this is going to affect a lot of people," CUPE local 451 president Dave Ginter said. "Where is there a safeguard so this is never going to happen again?"
Admitting a "public mea culpa" Grant acknowledged that the district was facing a "perfect storm" of financial issues but "unlike most of the other districts we did not build in a contingency."
Later he was blunt about the impact of making $12 million in cuts in a single year.
"I think we all have to be prepared. We will be saying good-bye to some of our colleagues in the budget year," Grant said.
"Not one person at this table or the District Leadership Team feels this is something that is lightly taken. In fact it's quite heartbreaking," board chair Melissa Hyndes said. "Our job is to be accountable," she said, adding that the board would "make sure we right the wrongs."
Tonight the CTA is expected to vote on a motion seeking an admission and an apology from the board for the mistakes that led to the current deficit and projected deficit.
Preliminary budget recommendations and how the district will make $12 million in cuts next year will be made at a meeting this coming Tuesday.
Many questions remain as to how the district got to this point and what effect the cuts will have on staff and programs.
The district is expected to put a PowerPoint explanation of its current financial situation on its website (www.sd43.bc.ca) in the coming days.
