A budget for next term in this school district must be finalized by June 30th.

Tonight – school trustees will make the final decision on the closure of the Osoyoos high school.

Once that is voted on – more can be done on the budget which is quite tentative at this point in time.

About 80 people attended a budget meeting in Oliver last night.

The discussion focused on measures trustees would consider to reduce a revenue shortfall estimated at more than $900,000.

The presentation included a list of proposed cuts trustees would be considering.

It included:

•Increasing the student/teacher ratio at secondary schools by 1 to save about $160,000;
•reducing the YouLearn budget by $100,000;
•reducing supplies and services by five percent ($80,000); and,
•reducing teacher allocation for the Gifted program to realize $20,000 in savings.

In total, with those changes and several other smaller cuts, the District expects to realize about more than a half million dollars in savings.

with files from the Osoyoos Daily News