School District 43 is playing catch-up compared to other Metro Vancouver districts in setting aside funds to cover future benefits liabilities for employees, newly released documents show.
According to a Ministry of Education report released this week, SD43 had a $24.9-million liability in 2015.
But the board chair says the amount has already been reduced and there is a plan in place to eliminate it.
It's an accounting kind of exercise," Kerri Palmer Isaak told The Tri-City News this week, "It's the last piece of our deficit, the last one that they are tackling."
The liability dates aback to 2005, when the province moved to generally accepted accounting principles and required school districts to set aside funds to fulfill promised benefit obligations for vacation time, sick days, retirement incentives, retirement pensions and retirement health benefits.
Back then, these employee future benefits (EFB) totalled $40,348,842 for approximately 3,000 teachers, administrators and support staff. The district has whittled the liability down to $23.4 million today, Palmer Isaak said, with a plan to reduce it to zero by 2034.
But the Anmore/Belcarra trustee noted that unless the entire district stopped operating, the sum would never be used. Still, she admitted other districts have been more aggressive in eliminating their employee future benefits liability.
In June, SD43 established a payment plan, setting aside $1.5 million plus interest through to 2018, and $1.1 million thereafter to 2033, which was accepted by the province.
Other Metro Districts have already eliminated their liability, including Surrey and Vancouver, which are larger and have more employees.
The information is contained in a series of school district profiles on the B.C. government website. The profiles contain a variety of details about enrolment trends, funding, school capacity and closures as well as completed seismic replacements and upgrades, and those still in the works.
For example, it shows per-pupil funding for SD43 is expected to be $8,241 for the current school year and there is still no project agreement for a full replacement for Minnekhada middle school and Irvine elementary school, which are considered at risk in case of an earthquake.
