While B.C. schoolchildren finished up for the summer last month, education trustees across B.C. were staring at bleak balance sheets.
For most, creating a budget for the next school year involved some wrenching decisions.
Burnaby School District, for example, had to find $4.2 million in cuts. It opted to reduce its number of counsellors and custodial staff, while also making cuts to advanced learning programs, the Mandarin language program and the Grade 7 band program.
School board chair Kristin Schnider said there were "a lot of upset families," including her own. Her child plays in a Grade 7 band.
"I heard it from all sides, even when I came home," she said. "And I completely understand and agree with their position."
B.C. school districts are being forced to figure out how to do more with less as they respond to inflation and changing enrolment. Often, this means cancelling programs or laying off teachers and educational assistants
In May, parents took to the legislature to protest what they say is inadequate funding by the province.
B.C. school boards must pass a balanced budget by rule, or trustees can be fired. This can be difficult because most funding comes from the provincial government and is based on the number of students in each district. This means school boards have their hands tied when costs go up, or populations change.
With school districts facing the same affordability pressures as the general public, this can then mean some hard decisions.
"It was been an exceptionally challenging budget for Burnaby, probably the most challenging one we faced in many, many, many years," Schnider told Black Press Media.
Burnaby is not alone. Surrey Schools made roughly $16 million in cuts. Vancouver Island North cut $1.1 million, Qualicum School District cut $2.5 million, Kamloops cut $5.8 million, and Vernon cut $1.65 million. The list goes on and on. It is more difficult to find a district that was not forced to make cuts than one that is.
Clint Johnston, former head of the B.C. Teachers' Federation (he retired June 30) blamed years of underfunding. Until recently, trustees have been able to hide the severity of the situation by dipping into reserves, but those funds are now dwindling, he said.
"What I liken it to is, if you drive your car, you keep driving, and you don't change the oil, put oil in when you're supposed to — you can drive it a long time before it actually falls apart," he said. "And I think that's where we're at."
Johnston said the biggest victim is inclusive education, disproportionately affecting students with special needs. He said that overall, the province is only spending 72 per cent of what school boards say they need for inclusive education, which means districts are $340 million short. This money funds positions such as educational assistants and mental health counsellors.
B.C. Conservative Education critic Lynne Block is a former school board trustee. She said she has heard "frustration and disappointment" from boards across the province who say the situation is at a "tipping point." Block points out the NDP promised educational assistants in every classroom and counsellors in every school — commitments that are not being upheld.
Education and Child Care Minister Lisa Beare declined to be interviewed for this article, with a spokesperson citing the ongoing collective bargaining negotiations with the teachers' union.
A written statement provided by a spokesperson said the ministry provided more money for education in B.C. than ever before, increasing per-student funding to $13,600, the highest it has ever been. The spokesperson said it is up to the local school board to decide how the money is spent.
Speaking to reporters on May 26 — the day parents held their rally at the legislature — Beare acknowledged there are still challenges.
"There's not a level of government, including school boards and boards of education, that aren't having to make these tough choices, due to the tough fiscal environment we have right now," she said.
A 'functional budget dystopia'
Matt Woods, president of the Mount Arrowsmith Teachers' Association in the Qualicum School District, said the district is faced with a budget shortfall of $2.5 million in a roughly $72 million budget. Because it must balance the budget by law, the school board is forced to pass a budget that fails to meet student needs, he said.
"I coined a phrase called 'functional budget dystopia,'" he said. "The reality is that we have to create these budgets. We have to pass the budget. If you don't, the board will get fired."
Qualicum has declining enrolment and is forced to maximize class sizes, which means laying off teachers and educational assistants. It also means some schools that can't fill classes have less money for the basics.
"You have 10 kids in the classroom, you still need a teacher, you still need a janitor, you still need a secretary, need the principal," he said.
Other rural districts face similar challenges. The Vancouver Island North school district was able to get by in recent years by using money from surplus accounts. That extra money is gone, and the district is short $1.1 million on a $29.2 million budget.
This forced the board to close an elementary school June 30 and make other cuts. Shawn Gough, president of the Vancouver Island North Teachers' Association, said this includes cuts to educational assistant hours, as well as 10 per cent of funding for everything from school supplies to field trips.
Like Qualicum, Vancouver Island North has declining enrolment. And while the province takes money away, Gough said the district still needs to keep up with increasing facility costs, such as heat and electric bills.
"The money that's going into the system to provide for that isn't matching, and so unfortunately, the [school] boards are being put into positions where they have to make these drastic cuts in order to balance their budget," he said.
Districts with increasing enrolment face other challenges, but are similarly burning through surpluses.
Surrey's overflowing schools are well-documented, so its budget shortfall did not come as a surprise. Burnaby's problems are similar; more space is needed for students, and the district needs to buy portable classrooms while schools are being built.
But when a district buys a portable, that money comes out of operational expenses, not capital budgets. This means money for portables directly competes with student services and teacher salaries.
One portable classroom costs about $250,000 to buy and $250,000 to install, Schnider, the school's board chair, estimates. Burnaby has been forced to spend about $7.5 million on portables overall.
The Grade 7 school band program — the one Schnider's kid was in along with about 1,200 others — costs roughly as much as one portable.
Burnaby School District can collect fees from international students to fund programs such as Grade 7 band, but with overflowing classrooms, there are fewer slots available for these students.
This downward spiral is sapping reserve funds. Three years ago, Burnaby School District's fund had about $10 million in it. Now, it is at $30,000.
With all this difficulty staying afloat, districts become less able to pay for the services that children with special needs require to attend school in the first place. Depleting reserves and reducing services are only putting the problem off instead of addressing the core issues, said Johnston.
"That is just keeping a Band-Aid on what is becoming a wound that can't be covered by a Band-Aid anymore," he said. "And so it's pretty desperate."