The District Parent Advisory Council is hosting two town halls-one on the East Side and one on the West Side-to collect parents' thoughts about the Vancouver School Board's 2012/13 budget.
DPAC's communication coordinator Steve Baker said the organization, which represents parent groups across the district, will present the results to trustees.
"The concept that the [DPAC] executive put forward this time is let's get a conversation going on the budget long before the budget is actually prepared and put those concepts forward to the trustees," he said, "so that a perspective that may not have been there before is actually included as they're developing the budget."
Board chair Patti Bacchus, as well some VSB senior staff, are expected to attend both meetings.
"We anticipate people will have the opportunity to ask questions, get clarification and throw out ideas-and acquire a response, not necessarily an answer but at least a response. Our intention is to take note of all the questions and comments so that our DPAC executive can formulate a decent, well-considered brief that is truly representative of all the PACs," Baker said.
Vancouver School Board staff's preliminary prediction had been for a $14 million shortfall, although I believe that's since dropped by between $4 or $5 million. The figure could be lowered again based on provincial government funding announcements and internal financial information before the budget is passed at the end of April.
The VSB hired PricewaterhouseCoopers to review its finances and come up with budget proposals for consideration. The review is underway and a report is expected in early March to help district management come up with balanced budget proposals for the board.
"Generally with these kind of recommendations there can be some short-term options we hope that might be able to be applied to this budget cycle. There may be some longer-term projects that we can begin to work on that may or may not have an immediate impact, but will help us in the long term," Bacchus said.
Bacchus noted that VSB finance staff are finalizing the current year's budget, which will also give the board a clearer idea of any operating surplus from 2011/12 that can be applied to the 2012/13 budget.
She expects to get another budget update at the Feb. 28 finance and legal committee meeting,
"The province usually announces the grant amounts on about March 15," she added. "Following that announcement, we expect to have an even more accurate projection."
There will be a series of stakeholder and public consultation meetings, aside from DPAC's two townhalls, on both the budget and school calendar. The VSB cut the school year by 10 days to save money in each of the past two years. That policy will be reviewed.
Meetings will run from late March to near the end of April. The board plans to vote on a 2012/13 operating budget and school calendar on April 26.
Parents can register for DPAC's town halls at vsbdpac.ca, which will give DPAC an idea about numbers, but registration is not required.
The first DPAC meeting is in Vancouver Technical school's auditorium (2600 East Broadway) between 7 and 9 p.m., Feb. 22.
The second is in the Magee secondary school auditorium (6360 Maple St.) from 7 to 9 p.m., Feb. 23.
Twitter: @naoibh
