Education Minister Peter Fassbender will appoint an
independent special advisor to review, evaluate and make recommendations
aimed at helping the recently elected Vancouver Board of Education to
balance its budget, reduce overhead and find administrative efficiencies,
while protecting and enhancing resources for student instruction.
The special advisor will be an auditor leading a team that will look at
the school district‘s budget development and forecasting, accumulated
surpluses, capital asset management, opportunities for administrative
savings, and board governance. In addition, the special advisor will
review past audit, special advisor and management consulting reports
provided to the board or the minister over the past five years and any
actions taken on past recommendations.
The decision to appoint a special advisor comes after the board wrote to
the Minister of Education and Minister of Finance in February to advise
they project a minimum budget shortfall of $15 million for the 2015-16
school year. Under the School Act, boards of education are required to
submit a balanced budget to the ministry by June 30.
Over the past two decades, the Vancouver Board of Education has publicly
forecasted large deficits but has consistently ended the school year with
a surplus. As of June 30, 2014, they held an accumulated surplus of $28.4
million, which is equivalent to 6% of total district expenditures.
BC Budget 2015 provides an additional $421 million in funding to public
schools over the next three years, including a 33% increase to the
Learning Improvement Fund. Boards will receive $121 million more in
fiscal 2015-16, pushing total public school funding to $5.06 billion – up
31% since 2001 while student enrolment has declined by more than 75,000
students over the same period.
To ensure tax dollars are being used wisely and that every available
education dollar is going to student instruction, school districts are
tasked with finding $29 million in administrative savings in 2015-16,
similar to recent efficiency targets in the health and post-secondary
sectors.