Bloated over-staffing levels, a failure to capitalize on business opportunities and an overtly politicized atmosphere were among some of the damning findings in a pair of highly-anticipated reports issued Friday that dissected the internal workings of the Vancouver School Board.
Two reports were released to media Friday afternoon, a forensic audit by special advisor Peter Milburn and financial review courtesy of Ernst and Young.
The reports suggest two critical documents — the district budget and long-range facilities plan — were both clouded by political jockeying.
“There is a real concern that political alignments and considerations are detracting from the independence of decision making at the VSB,” the review says.
The reports were also critical of the board’s inaction to divest itself of commercial properties like Kingsgate Mall, suggesting that move could have provided the district with $5.6 million of what was an anticipated $21-million shortfall for the 2016/2017 budget.
The reports compared staffing levels in Vancouver to other districts of similar size and scope. Though which districts were used as comparables was not mentioned, the reports suggest “in comparison to its peers, Vancouver School District is significantly overstaffed in many employment categories.”
Education Minister Bernier spoke to reporters via teleconference 10 minutes after the 35-page report was issued.
"What I find most troubling in the special advisor's report is how the Vancouver School Board allowed money to be tied up in inefficiencies, rather than spent in classrooms, in services to students, and on teachers," Bernier said. "Stability has been put at risk by overstaffing compared to other school districts, labour agreements driving additional call outs, duplication, and idle time, and a failure to use surplus real estate, such as the Kingsgate Mall to set a new path for fiscal sustainability."
Bernier said acting on, or implementing any of the 28 recommendations is at the discretion of newly appointed trustee Dianne Turner.
He suggested Milburn’s review was conducted after speaking with all nine former trustees and former senior staff. On the issue of the six staffers who left simultaneously earlier this month, Bernier said most will be back on the job within two weeks.
According to Bernier and Turner, regaining a semblance of stability at the school board is priority No. 1, and both reports “deepened [Bernier’s] lack of confidence that those challenges would be dealt with and solved by the former board."
The Milburn report cost $50,000, though the final costs of the Ernst and Young report were not available on Friday.
Other key points taken directly from the reports include:
- In addition to the additional hours and unusual level of engagement, information gathered for the review demonstrated that some trustees are not always being respectful in their interactions with VSB management during board meetings.
- There is real concern that political alignments and considerations are detracting from the independence of decision making at the VSB.
- There is no evidence that the trustees of the VSB have ever conducted an evaluation of their own performance.
- It is likely that many of the relationship issues within the board, including any pressures created on management, could have been identified and rectified earlier if the board had conducted a form of evaluation or self-evaluation.
- There have been a number of missed opportunities to both reduce expenses and increase revenue at the VSB.
[email protected]
@JohnKurucz
