Districts ‘ will be feeling pressure’ as spending on public schools stays flat

The only spending boost for B. C. public schools highlighted in Tuesday’s budget was a modest, previously announced, fund to help teachers with specialneeds students in their increasingly diverse classrooms.

Apart from that investment, which will distribute $ 30 million next year and a total of $ 165 million over three years, the basic grant for public education will stay essentially flat for three years, at an annual $ 4.7 billion.

Average spending for K- 12 schools will grow by only 0.6 per cent next year, down from 1.1 per cent during the previous two years and 4.8 per cent between 2005- 06 and 2008- 09. While the news wasn’t a surprise, it was disappointing for many.

“Districts will be feeling pressure right across the province,” said Michael Mcevoy, president of the B. C. School Trustees’ Association. The 0.6- percent hike is targeted money for specific programs including full- day kindergarten, he said, so it won’t help boards deal with inflation and rising costs, such as the latest increase in MSP premiums.

In delivering the budget, Finance Minister Kevin Falcon urged the 60 districts — especially 17 in and around Metro Vancouver — to reduce their costs by sharing more head- office functions.

They now spend a combined $ 840 million annually on administration, operations, maintenance and transportation services, but could find savings of three to eight per cent by following the Health Ministry’s approach to shared services, budget documents suggest. It’s advice school officials have been hearing for years.

In addition, school districts, universities, colleges and others in the public sector are being told to sell surplus properties to raise money for other projects.

A recent government review identified more than 100 such properties and estimated the disposal of some could easily net $ 700 million.

Falcon said 40 per cent of those properties are owned by school districts and proceeds could help finance other capital projects.

Mcevoy welcomed that decision, saying trustees have been frustrated in recent years by their inability to sell properties and have been lobbying for a change.

Their authority to manage property was curtailed by former premier Gordon Campbell in 2008, after scores of schools were closed and sold in the early 2000s as a result of declining enrolment and new Liberal policies. As expected, the budget allocated no money for a pay hike for B. C. teachers, whose union has been seeking a 15- per- cent increase over three years.

The B. C. Teachers’ Federation and the B. C. Public School Employers’ Association have made little progress during nearly a year of bargaining, and a government fact- finder is expected to report this week on whether a negotiated deal is still possible.

The post- secondary sector also received a tough message, with government calling for reductions in administrative budgets of $ 20 million in 201314 and $ 50 million in 2014- 15. Savings must come from travel, executive overhead and support services, but not classrooms, the minister said.

“We believe [ this] one- percent cost reduction is very achievable,” he added.

As in the K- 12 sector, the average annual increases for post- secondary are shrinking — to 1.6 per cent a year in the coming three years from 3.4 per cent during the past two years and 6.5 per cent between 2005- 06 and 2008- 09. Annual spending for post- secondary is about $ 5 billion.