2011 Budget News
Nanaimo Daily News: Cutting educational assistants will hurt
June 24, 2011
Nanaimo-Ladysmith school trustees may cut approximately $600,000 next year for educational assistants throughout the district.
Cutting these EAs can only harm hundreds of students. The cuts arise after the province altered the criteria for what constitutes a special-needs student.
Counsellors and teachers within the school district had determined which students needed EAs and the province is now disregarding the opinion of those who deal most closely with the children.
Without their involvement, the only option for the school district is to keep these kids in regular classrooms, which could hinder the education of other students, or return to the segregated “special class” stigmatization previous students had to deal with.
This was considered unacceptable just a few years ago.
Seaview Elementary School in Lantzville faces the loss of five of six EAs next year and the numbers are similar at Rock City Elementary.
Those children who will no longer have access to educational assistance still require special attention in order to progress properly throughout the school system.
The alternatives are parents paying for extra help outside of school hours or letting these kids become the casualties of this government’s mania for hacking budgets. Read more
Nanaimo News Bulletin: School board sticks with budget
June 4, 2011
Jenn McGarrigle, Nanaimo News Bulletin
Nanaimo school trustees are standing firm on next year’s budget.
The board met for a special meeting Wednesday to reconsider cuts made to secretarial and janitorial time.
The discussion was suggested by Carol McNamee, vice-chairwoman of the board, because the district received additional and unexpected money from the province soon after trustees finalized a budget with $1.4 million in cuts.
Trustee Jamie Brennan said the board defeated the motion to reconsider these cuts and the additional money – about $130,000 – will carry over to next year as part of the district’s contingency funds.
“There’s still a great deal of uncertainty with regard to our financial situation,” said Brennan. Read more
Nanaimo News Bulletin: Budget cuts up for discussion again
May 31, 2011
Jenn McGarrigle, Nanaimo News Bulletin
Nanaimo trustees will reconsider a couple of cuts made to balance next year’s budget at a special business committee meeting Wednesday.
The district is finishing the year with more money than expected because the province distributed funding it holds back to pay for unexpected enrolment increases.
Carol McNamee, school board vice-chairwoman, asked trustees to reconsider cuts to secretarial and janitorial time now that there is a bit more money available.
Trustees approved a budget with $1.4 million in cuts on May 3.
A few weeks later, the province gave the district about $206,000 in holdback funds, but $76,000 will go toward paying school building insurance premiums, an expense the province downloaded to districts just before distributing holdback funds.
McNamee, who was surprised trustees agreed to review the cuts, said the suggestion was due to concerns the cuts could impact the health and safety of students and school staff. Read more
Nanaimo Daily News: Province must stop under-funding education
April 27, 2011
Kip Wood, Nanaimo District Teachers Association
Since the 2002-03 school year, the Nanaimo-Ladysmith School Board has cut $14.7 million from status quo services. This is not because of declining enrollment; this is because of underfunding. The district cannot serve its 14,000 students at the level that it served 16,000 students a decade ago.
In 2002, Minister of Education Christy Clark tabled laws that removed key provisions that protected learning conditions including class size and support for students with special needs. The effect on provincial funding for education has been devastating. Read more
2010
Faced with deep cuts due to provincial underfunding in 2010, trustees on the Nanaimo-Ladysmith Board of Education called for a royal commission to review public education funding.
In the News
Nanaimo Daily News: School staf slam decision not to replace sick workers on first day of absence
Robert Barron, Daily News
Mar. 3, 2011
Support workers in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district believe that a cost-saving decision not to replace many of its workers on their first day of absence is impacting morale, safety and the delivery of education to students.
The cash-strapped school district determined during last year’s budget process that about $100,000 per year could be saved if many librarians, counsellors, educational assistants and secretaries were not replaced on their first day of absence from their jobs, due to sickness or other reasons. Read more
Nanaimo News Bulletin: District mulls longer spring break
Jenn McGarrigle – Nanaimo News Bulletin
Feb 15, 2011
Nanaimo school trustees are considering extending spring break to two weeks again next year to save money and want to know what people think.
Last year, the district voted 5-4 in favour of extending the spring break by five days as a money-saving strategy.
Trustee Jamie Brennan said staff estimate the move will save the district about $500,000.
If trustees decide against the extension, the budget shortfall could be upwards of $4 million, secretary-treasurer Phil Turin warned.
“We’re faced with another difficult year,” said Brennan. “We’re getting to the point where there isn’t much left to cut.” Read more
Nanaimo Ladysmith MLAs
MLA Leonard Krog, Nanaimo (NDP)
- Email: leonard.krog.mla@leg.bc.ca
- Constituency office: 4 – 77 Victoria Crescent, Nanaimo, V9R 5B9, Telephone: 250 714-0630
MLA Doug Routley, Nanaimo-N. Cowichan (NDP)
- Email: douglas.routley.mla@leg.bc.ca
- Constituency office: PO Box 269, 524 1st Avenue, Ladysmith, V9G 1A2, Telephone: 250 245-9375
2010 Archives
Nanaimo daily news: Difficult time comes to an end but more changes await in September
Robert Barron, Daily News
June 26, 2010
Approximately 150 teachers in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district recently received layoff notices, but most are expected to be rehired as part of the annual “post-and-fill” system.
Under the teachers’ collective agreement, teachers with less than four years and two months seniority lose their jobs at the end of the school year to allow positions to be opened up for full-time staff returning from leave.
Derek DeGear, president-elect of the Nanaimo District Teachers’ Association, said most of the laid-off teachers should know whether they’ll have a job and what school they will be in by July 15 after the district determines its staffing needs for the next school year. Read more
Nanaimo Daily News: Schools face yet another big cash shortfall
Robert Barron – Daily News
June 25, 2010
Facing a shortfall that could be as high as $4 million in 2011-12, trustees and senior management in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district will begin budget deliberations on July 12.
David Murchie, chairman of the district’s business committee, said the hard decisions that had to be made in recent weeks to balance the 2010-11 budget, with a $2.8-million deficit after years of ongoing cutbacks, may be just the tip of the iceberg of difficult financial decisions that lay ahead.
Secretary treasurer David Green said it’s “too early” in the process at this stage to give an exact amount of the anticipated shortfall for 2011-12, but acknowledged it will likely be large due to the increased cost pressures the district is facing.
“We’ve gone through years of cuts and it looks like this will continue so we need to look at ways we can do things very differently. Read more
Nanaimo Daily News: Politician expenses could be reduced more, says trustee
Robert Barron – Daily News
June 19, 2010
School trustees in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district agreed to take cuts to their pay and benefits to help save costs and balance the 2010-11 budget, passed earlier his month, but Andrea Bonkowski would like to see more.
The veteran trustee has prepared a notice of motion directing staff to explore other ways trustee costs could be reduced and wants the report to be tabled in the fall. Read more
Nanaimo News Bulletin: Trustees fear for their future following Vancouver report
Jenn Marshall, Nanaimo News Bulletin
June 10, 2010
Nanaimo school trustees worry a report that blames Vancouver school district’s budget deficit situation on mismanagement by its board could mean changes to the way public education is governed.
Earlier this year, after Vancouver trustees announced they were considering wide-ranging cuts that will “shake the very core of the system” to make up for an $18-million funding shortfall, Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid appointed Comptroller General Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland to review Vancouver’s financial situation. Read more
Nanaimo Daily News: Dodo time for school boards
June 9, 2010
Darrell Bellaart
I could be confused in my belief school boards exist to use resources wisely so children can get the best education possible. But I don’t think so.
So I nearly spilled my coffee on my morning paper when I read the words of Nanaimo-Ladysmith school board chairwoman Donna Allen, arguing in defence of keeping school boards in local hands. Her argument was about protecting local employment.
The issue of doing away with school boards altogether is coming to the fore after the release of a scathing report by B.C. comptroller-general Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland into why the Vancouver school board came up $18 million short. Read more
Nanaimo Daily News: School districts should share resources
June 8, 2010
There is no reason why the Nanaimo-Ladysmith School Board can’t explore sharing some administrative and other expenses with adjoining school districts to try to save money.
Local school board autonomy remains important but since the provincial government dictates how 93% of the district’s funding is spent, trustees must find creative ways to use the remaining 7% of its funding. Read more
Calgary Herald: Officials fear for future of BC school boards
Robert Barron, The Nanaimo Daily News
June 7, 2010
A blistering critique of the performance of Vancouver’s school board in handling its finances has officials in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith district worried about the future of local autonomy and the very existence of regional school boards.
B.C. comptroller general Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland was appointed by Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid in April to assist Vancouver’s board of education in finding savings. The board faces an $18-million financial shortfall for the 2010-11 school year and is claiming the cuts required would jeopardize education. Read more
Nanaimo News Bulletin: Trustees move to two-week spring break
June 1, 2010
Jenn Marshall
Nanaimo students will get a two-week spring break next year.
School trustees voted 5-4 in favour of extending the spring break by five days at a special board meeting Monday.
Staff estimate the move will save the district about $500,000, to go toward a $2.8-million shortfall. Read more
Nanaimo News Bulletin: Another option in school calendar changes floated
Jenn Marshall
May 25, 2010
Trustees are looking at ways to remove days from the school calendar without as much of an impact on the support workers.
The draft budget calls for reducing the school calendar by five days, with savings coming largely from support workers wages. Minutes would be added to each remaining school day to make up for lost days. Read more
Nanaimo News Bulletin: Province failing BC on education funding
May 17, 2010
S. Alvarez – letter to the editor
Re: Trustees must hold firm on teachers’ wages, Letters, May 11.
The average wage of a teacher in Nanaimo is around $55,000 – living wage for sure but not, as Randy O’Donnell claims, a wage that vastly exceeds those received in the private sector for those of similar educational backgrounds. Read more
Nanaimo News Bulletin: Trustees push to break budget law
May 3, 2010
Jenn Marshall
Two Nanaimo trustees urged their colleagues to defy provincial law last week and submit a deficit budget.
The district needs to cut $2.8 million in programs, services and staff to balance the books. Read more
Nanaimo Daily News: District has strategy to cut school costs
Robert Barron, Daily News
May 1, 2010
Trustees in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district decided not to submit a deficit budget to the government on Thursday, despite facing more staff layoffs and program cuts as they grapple with a $2.8-million shortfall.
In Thursday’s budget meeting, staff members proposed that five school days be cut from the school calendar and that approximately 10 teachers and six CUPE support worker positions be cut as cost-saving measures.
After years of deficits and staff cuts, the district’s teachers and support staff encouraged the school board to submit a deficit budget to make a point to the government about funding concerns. Read more
Nanaimo Daily News: District deficit cut by dropping school days
Robert Barron – The Daily News
April 30, 2010
Students in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district would have an extra week for spring break and more layoffs are being suggested in the district’s draft budget for 2010-11 that was tabled Thursday. Read more
Channel A News: Balancing the books
April 30, 2010
Nanaimo News Bulletin: BC trustees push province on key issues
April 30, 2010
Jenn Marshall – Nanaimo News Bulletin
Underfunding of the public education system was the main topic of discussion at the B.C. School Trustees Association’s annual general meeting last weekend.
Trustees debated motions that ranged from calling on the province to institute a wide-ranging review of the public education system to asking for clearer guidelines around the sale of surplus properties and ending the practice of partially funding private schools.
“All these things had to do with lack of funding,” said Donna Allen, Nanaimo school board chairwoman. “Everyone is saying the same thing.” Read more
Nanaimo News Bulletin: Nanaimo school district facing $2.8-million shortfall
April 9, 2010
By Jenn Marshall – Nanaimo News Bulletin
Nearly $3 million will have to be cut from Nanaimo school distirct programs, services and staff to balance next year’s budget.
Secretary-treasurer David Green presented the 2010-11 budget at a special meeting Thursday.
To maintain all programs and services at current levels, the district will be short more than $2.8 million on its $127-million status quo budget.
Last year, trustees cut $2.15 million out of the budget and $1.6 million the year before. Read article
Nanaimo News Bulletin: Nanaimo school trustees urged to submit deficit budget
By Jenn Marshall – nanaimo News Bulletin
April 1, 2010
In a scene from the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the two bank robbers, on the run from a posse, become trapped on the edge of a canyon.
Butch suggests they jump into the river below to escape, a prospect that promises little chance of survival, especially since Sundance can’t swim.
But faced with no other alternative but to turn around and fight the six-man posse, the two jump and swim to safety.
Kip Wood, president of Nanaimo District Teachers’ Association, likens the district’s budget process to Butch and Sundance’s situation.
It is time to jump, he told trustees at Wednesday’s school board meeting. Read article
Nanaimo Daily News: Teachers job fears are justified
March 19, 2010
Robert Barron, Daily News
Despite an increase in funding for the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district in 2010-11, secretary treasurer David Green said the district still faces a deficit for next year.
The Ministry of Education announced earlier this week that Nanaimo-Ladysmith will receive a $115,929,000 operating grant as part of the $4.67 billion budgeted for the province’s 60 school districts next year.
Green said the funding is $1.6 million more than the district received in 2009-10, but added cost pressures on the district will mean that trustees in Nanaimo-Ladysmith will still have to grapple with a deficit as they prepare their budget for next year in the coming months. Read more
Nanaimo Daily News: Commission eyed to review education funding
February 22, 2010
Trustees in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district want the public to have a say into how education is being delivered in the province.
The school board will vote on a resolution requesting that the B.C. School Trustees’ Association ask the government to set up a royal commission to review public education funding.
The last royal commission on education was tabled in 1988 after extensive community consultations. Read more
