School District 43 is seeing fewer than expected students enrolling in alternative programs and more students with special needs as enrolment in local schools continues to rise.
“We have some people who are migrating to our district," said Paul McNaughton, SD43's director of instruction for learning services. "I like to think it's because of the supports we provide and word of mouth.”
The September enrolment count showed that 122 more special education students were in local schools compared to September, 2018, for a total of 1,514.
But McNaughton said the more telling figure is that SD43 was almost bang on with its projections, enabling the district to ensure staff were in place to support students when they showed up in the classroom.
“If you don’t project properly you don’t have the staffing,” said McNaughton, noting that only 20 more students arrived in September above February projections.
Many of those students who require extra supports are students diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum and those with chronic health issues.
McNaughton said the district relies on five years of historical data to make its projections on the number of students with special needs.
“It’s net migration, but we have more students being diagnosed,” McNaughton said.
Finding enough education assistants can be a challenge, but SD43 has been managing, McNaughton said, and in some cases has moving staffing around and make adjustments.
But overall it’s better to have more students than expected than fewer, he said.
“If you’re below, that’s a lot more of ‘where are you going to find the money?’, if you’re above, we stress a lot less,” McNaughton said.
According to the latest enrolment figures, SD43 is experiencing enrolment growth as more students move to the area and kindergarten students are enrolled.
And with more students comes more funding and trustees are expected to hear how those dollars will be spent in the classroom.
“The ministry confirms the enrolment numbers and related grant funding in December 2019. At the October 29, 2019 board meeting, staff will be bringing forward how these additional funds will be utilized — including increased staffing requirements,” secretary treasurer Chris Nicolls stated in an email to The Tri-City News.
When heads were counted in September, there were 30,693.81 FTE (full time equivalent) students in K-12 classrooms, up 263.18 FTE from September, 2018 and 183.81 FTE more than projected in February.
Meanwhile the number of students enrolling in alternative schools such as CABE, Encompass 10-12, LINC-CLC and Suwa’lkh Learning Centre is lower than expected, or 337.37 FTE compared to 420 FTE that was expected.
In addition to higher numbers of special education students this fall, the district has seen 116 FTE more English Language Learners, for a total of 4,854 FTE, and 24 fewer Aboriginal education students at 1,268, down from 1,292 last September.
However, an increase above projections requires the district to figure out ways to ensure those students are supported. Some money is always held back to cover additional hirings, he said, “and we’ve relied on our inclusion support team who have gone out and they have been helping to mitigate those surprises as well,” he said.
