The government takes. And sometimes the government gives back.
In an about-face this week, Education Minister Mike Bernier announced school districts will get to keep the $25 million the province previously ordered cut from their budgets in “administrative savings.”
On the North Shore, the change of heart means the North and West Vancouver school districts will collectively get back about $950,000.
North Vancouver schools will get back just over $665,000 while West Vancouver schools will see a little under $285,000 returned.
North Vancouver schools superintendent John Lewis said the return of the money means “the board will now be able to direct some of those funds to priorities identified in our budget consultation process.” He said decisions on where the money will go will likely be made in September.
Unlike some school districts faced with the prospect of closing schools or making deep cuts to programs, both the North Vancouver and West Vancouver school boards balanced their budgets for the coming school year without resorting to such measures. In the case of North Van, that is partly because a number of schools were closed in the district about a decade ago.
Both North and West Vancouver school districts also drew on accumulated surplus from previous years to help balance their budgets.
In the case of West Vancouver, the return of the money previously cut from school funding means the district will draw on about $1.3 million in surplus to balance the budget, rather than the previously anticipated $1.5 million, said Julia Leiterman, secretary treasurer for the West Vancouver school district.
Leiterman noted, however, the West Vancouver school district has “minimal” reserves left now to help balance the 2017/2018 budget, and school districts are still being asked to absorb increased costs for Hydro, MSP premiums and management salary increases without extra funding from the province.
John Horgan, leader of the provincial NDP, said in a statement the decision to give back the money previously taken away from school funding is “the least that Christy Clark could do” and called it a “cynical election ploy” to try to “make bad headlines go away until after the election.”
Both North Shore school boards also recently approved capital projects that will be completed this year with annual facilities grants.
In North Vancouver, where the board received $2.3 million for capital fixes, projects include a $650,000 roof replacement for Cove Cliff elementary, spending $100,000 to make washrooms wheelchair accessible at Canyon Heights and also renovating the library at that school to become two classrooms at a cost of $75,000.
Other projects include spending $222,000 at Montroyal to replace windows that don’t close properly and are causing mould, replacing rotting doors at Brooksbank for $50,000 and spending about $90,000 on lighting, energy conservation and duct issues at the school district’s administration building.
The district is also spending money to assess and remove potential danger trees at a number of school properties including Mountainside, Cove Cliff, Braemar, Lynnmour, Carisbrooke and Montroyal schools.
West Vancouver will also spend about $700,000 in capital funding for a roof replacement at Ridgeview.
