A plan forwarded by the chairperson of the Vancouver School Board April 22 was music to parents’ ears.
Vision Vancouver chairperson Patti Bacchus proposed the VSB use $585,000 in additional money from the provincial government to preserve the threatened itinerant elementary band and strings program for one year only so a task force could work on a plan to see band and strings sustained permanently.
She said eliminated positions could be replaced in the future but rebuilding band and strings would be difficult once it’s cut.
Bacchus noted Vancouver’s oldest schoolhouse at Carleton elementary once faced demolition but “pushing the pause button” allowed time to find a creative solution. Green Thumb Theatre operates there now with money the company raised and funds from the federal, provincial and city governments.
VSB secretary-treasurer Rick Krowchuk explained the board received $585,000 in holdback funds for 2013-2014 after the board’s preliminary proposed budget for 2014-2015 was released.
The board has since completed preliminary enrolment projections for next year and estimates it can save another $110,000.
Vision Vancouver trustees Cherie Payne, Mike Lombardi, Allan Wong and Rob Wynen supported Bacchus’s idea.
Student trustee Nick Milum said he wouldn’t want the board to put all of the $585,000 into music because important positions face elimination.
“Namely [the] athletic coordinator, area counsellors, multicultural liaisons workers,” he said.
Debbie Pawluck, president of the Vancouver Secondary Teachers’ Association, agreed the board should create a band and strings task force, but she also agreed with Milum that some of the $585,000 should go to preventing other proposed cuts.
“Everything from the unpalatable three additional school closure days, which will affect 50,000 children and everyone who works here,” she said. “The implications and repercussions of those three days are actually far-reaching beyond even the strings and band program.”
NPA trustee Ken Denike wondered how the board could decide to close schools for an additional three days next November for an estimated savings of $375,000 in salaries and benefits without first dealing with employee agreements.
Superintendent Steve Cardwell said a decision could be made April 30 but consultations with employee groups would run into June. If the closures can’t proceed, the budget would have to be adjusted, “which is difficult to do.”
On the chopping block:
- A district athletic coordinator for a cost savings of $71,216.
- Two substance abuse prevention workers in schools for a savings of $127,000.
- A reduction from two teachers to one at the alternative City School for a savings of $95,500 in salary and benefits.
- A Vietnamese and a South Asian multicultural liaison worker for a savings of $140,000.
- The continuing education program, for a savings of $514,410.
- Three of 27.4 elementary school area counsellor positions for a savings of $315,300.
The VSB faces a projected shortfall of $11.56 million for 2014-2015 and must deliver a balanced budget to the province. Staff expect to spend approximately 92 per cent of the VSB’s $497.19 million budget on salaries and benefits. The board has cut $47 million over the past 12 years.
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