The chairperson of the District Parent Advisory Council doesn’t want the music to die.
That’s just one of the possible outcomes in the Vancouver School Board’s preliminary budget proposals for 2014/2015 to which Monica Moberg objects.
Board staff recommend eliminating the band and strings program for a cost savings of $630,651 or increasing the annual fee for the band and strings program to $25 a month for a total of $250 a year, which would only generate an additional $350,000.
Moberg is unhappy about the proposed elimination of nearly three of 27.4 area counsellor positions for a savings of $315,300.
Area counsellors support elementary school students and staff. The district includes more than 90 elementary schools and annexes.
“They’re not even meeting the needs of the students now and to reduce it further is absolutely outrageous,” she said.
Moberg is also upset about the proposed reduction of the equivalent of two full-time staff positions with the School Age Children and Youth – Substance Use Prevention Initiative (SACY) for a savings of $127,000.
“You get referred to SACY when you’re perhaps not hanging out with the best kids, you’re skipping too much, your grades are sliding and these people get them back on track,” she said. “Without the SACY workers, my fear is that more kids are going to drop out.”
VSB staff propose cutting a multicultural liaison worker for the South Asian community and another for the Vietnamese community. Fewer children from these backgrounds are registering through the District Resource Placement Centre.
Moberg wants the positions preserved.
“Those extra people make all the difference in the world as to whether or not people assimilate into Canadian culture well,” she said.
The VSB is considering cutting its Continuing Education program for the third year in a row because the program continues to run a deficit.
Staff recommend discontinuing Continuing Ed as of June 30 and to continue investigating transitioning courses to post-secondary institutions.
Moberg is pleased the preliminary budget allocates money for a project office to handle the district’s capital projects. She hopes improved planning could keep kids out of portables during seismic upgrades and construction.
Moberg is also pleased the budget includes no direct teacher layoffs.
The school board has to deliver a balanced budget to the province. The VSB faces an estimated shortfall of $12.34 million.
The board’s operating budget is $497.19 million and staff expect to spend approximately 92 per cent of this amount on salaries and benefits.
Moberg believes the board should enact recommendations in its 2012 sectoral review of schools and services and extract money from its real estate.
“If ever there was a time for parents to have an opinion and be vocal, this is it,” Moberg said. “Squeaky wheel gets the grease.”
Budget meetings and timelines:
- April 14 – Parents, unions and professional associations respond to the preliminary budget, 5:30 p.m. at the school board office on Broadway at Granville.
- April 15 – (and April 16, if required) The public responds to the preliminary budget, 7 p.m. at Mount Pleasant elementary school at Guelph and East Seventh Avenue.
- April 22 – Revised budget goes before the VSB’s finance committee.
- April 28 – The board receives input on the revised budget.
- April 30 – The board finalizes the budget.
For more information, search for “preliminary budget” at www.vsb.bc.ca or see vsbdpac.ca.
This story has been edited since it was first posted.
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