The Honourable Minister Fassbender
Minister of Education

Dear Minister Fassbender:

Re: Existing Shared Services in School District No. 53 and Concerns re Bill 11

We wish to express our concern regarding the potential impact of Bill 11 on the co-governance role of trustees. As locally elected school trustees we make decisions based on the best interests of students in our local communities. When elected we were entrusted by our communities to respond to the needs of students based on the unique needs of our communities and we feel deeply accountable to the people we serve. Due to the lack of discussion prior to the introduction of the Bill, the government’s intent is not clear and is left up to speculation. This is not conducive to building a strong and healthy relationship between co-governors. We are concerned that the proposed changes in Bill 11 will erode the autonomy of locally elected school boards.

Our district has been pro-active in reviewing areas of our budget for savings and has demonstrated leadership in shared services. We have seen a reduction in our expenses of $1,021,100 since 2009 through the following reductions:
Implementation of school staffing formulas to reflect declining enrolment – $400,000
Custodial staffing reductions – $60,000
Transportation savings through reorganization – $60,000
Shared services/reduction in senior administration since 2009:
Secretary Treasurer Shared with SD74 – $75,000
Director of Facilities Share with SD74 – $65,000
Assistant Superintendent salary and benefits – $145,000
Reduction in administration of accounts payable and payroll -$95,000
Other shared services:
Telus Government-initiated shared services – $35,000
Equitrac – photocopying budget savings $10,000
Reduction in contracts with Family Therapy and Drug and Alcohol services – $ 76,100

We have tried our best to be pro-active and to keep cuts out of the classroom so that we do not impact student learning. Unfortunately some cuts like those in contracts with Family Therapy and Drug and Alcohol Services will impact our students.

The Board of Education of School District No. 53, teachers, support staff, parents and students hope that there will be no further cuts to our education budget as there are no more “extra dollars” that we can cut without impacting the quality of education for our students.

We are very proud of the education system in BC but we would like to make it clear that with continued rising costs and a lack of corresponding funding increases, it will not be long before the quality education system that we are so proud of will be impacted in a negative way.

In our view, it is unfortunate the government representatives leave the public with the impression that school districts are not open to shared services. In districts such as ours, this statement could not be further from the truth. Our Board continually reviews how to direct resources to students in the classroom and the Ministry’s on-going focus on school district administration, a small portion of our total budget, is not conducive to positive relationships with our parents and communities.

Sincerely,

Marieze Tarr
Chairperson

cc Trustees, School District No. 53
Linda Larsen, MLA Boundary Similkameen