SD44 discusses spending surplus to balance budget

The North Vancouver School District is gearing up for a much more normal school year in 2021/2022 with a restart of specialized academies, environmental education at the Cheakamus Centre and students back in class full time.

A return to a post-COVID normal won’t happen all at once, though, so finance staff are recommending dipping into the school district’s surplus fund to the tune of $5.5 million to balance the budget next year.

School trustees got a first peek at projected numbers during a standing committee meeting on the 2021/2022 budget Tuesday evening.

While the grant from the Ministry of Education is expected to be up and cover costs like increases to teachers’ salaries, other revenues like international student tuition and rental income is expected to be “significantly lower than what was earned pre-COVID,” Kristen Watson, director of financial services, told trustees. That represents a drop of about $5.2 million – most of it through forgone international student fees.

“That loss of $5 million in district-generated revenues, it really has an impact on the bottom line. And it really requires that careful choices are made about spending decisions,” she said.

A number of changes are expected from the past school year, which happened under more restrictive COVID regulations.

The temporary online learning program that allowed students to attend school from home is being shuttered. The school district doesn’t expect to receive any of the special funding from the federal and provincial governments that paid for those programs, said Watson.

That means all temporary staffing positions – including nine teachers – associated with those programs this year will end June 30, she said.

Those teachers won’t be laid off, said Watson, but will go back to being regular classroom teachers.

The school district is considering keeping extra money in the budget for a casual pool of janitors and cleaning supplies, that would bump the money spent in that area to about 40 per cent higher than was generally spent pre-COVID, said Watson.

The school district is anticipating about 60 per cent of its normal community rental revenue next year as groups gradually ramp up activities.

Similarly, at the Cheakamus Centre near Squamish the school district anticipates bringing in between 40 and 50 per cent of usual revenues, said Watson. That will mean an overall net loss of about half a million dollars.

Overall, the staff is anticipating an operating budget of about $165.7 million next year – up about seven per cent from the $154.6-million budget this year. Most of that increase is due to increases in salaries and benefits, said Watson.

On the capital side, the school district expects to spend about $2.8 million on final purchases associated with the new Ecole Argyle Secondary, including field construction, furniture and equipment. It also anticipates spending $1 million on the rebuild of Ecole Handsworth Secondary, $2.5 million for work on the Cheakamus Centre and $700,000 on technology.

Trustees will vote on approving the budget later in June.