Funding shortfalls - are parents aware of how school funding works, and why the districts are forced to make cuts every year recently, in spite of the provincial government claiming record funding levels every year? Indeed, the province is correct that they are increasing funding every year, and in the face of declining enrollment. So whats the problem? The issue is that the funding increases are consistently less than the cost increases. Most of the cost increases are out of the districts control - things like insurance, energy, and school resources. And then there are other costs that are not only out of their control, but in the provincial governments control - wages, pensions, carbon offsets (increased in Surrey because of the portables required due to the lack of capital funding from the province), etc. As an example, the recent CUPE contract negotiated by the province included wage increases that were not funded AT ALL by the provincial government. In Surrey, this meant a ~$4.5 million cost increase that meant services had to be cut. Previous contract settlements have also not been fully funded.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 20:49:24 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015