Strapped school board faces ‘tough decisions’

Everything will be on the table this fall as the Okanagan Similkameen School Board struggles to eliminate a more-than-half-million-dollar “structural deficit.”

This warning will certainly chill Osoyoos residents who just five years ago narrowly escaped having their high school closed as the board faced a similar financial crunch. In recommending approval of the 2015/16 budget, finance committee chair Rob Zandee told his fellow trustees Wednesday the document includes a deficit of $565,000.

In an interview after the meeting, board chair Marieze Tarr said that the district cannot continue to carry a deficit and that in the fall the board will explore ways to cut costs to cover the shortfall. Tarr would not speculate on what actions the board might take, but said its review would “look at every facility” in the district. She said the provincial education ministry says there is still “low-hanging fruit,” but she insists there is not. She said the board has made substantial cuts in things like alcohol abuse programs and there is little room for more savings. Once the board has looked at the options in the fall, “There will be hard decisions to be made,” said Tarr. In 2010, facing a similar financial crisis, cost-saving measures proposed by district staff included closing Osoyoos Secondary School and bussing its students to South Okanagan Secondary in Oliver. Such a move would have saved more than $700,000.

Another proposal called for closing Tuc-el-nuit Elementary School on Oliver and amalgamating it into Oliver Elementary, saving nearly $400,000. In the end, the district managed to avoid closing either school.