The Kamloops-Thompson School District board is preparing a budget which will see dozens of people lose their jobs.

Around 77 teaching and support staff positions are expected to be cut in an effort to save over $5.5 million.

This would include nearly 50 support staff, on top of over 27 teaching positions.

“We do not want to reduce staff.  That is a last resort,” Superintendent Rhonda Nixon told Radio NL.  “What we’ve tried to do is balance the priorities that we heard through consultation with students and parents and staff and our employee groups.”

Nixon says there are a number of overriding factors which have forced their hand on spending cuts, including standard inflationary pressures, the launch costs for the new Snine Elementary in Pineview, on top of relief costs.

The costs for covering off teacher and other staff absences with substitutes has spiked in SD73 by some 65% over the past four years, according to the District.

However, with that $2.25 million extra not expected in the next school year, it means the $210,445,000 the District gets right now through the per-student funding formula is not likely to grow, prompting the District to take aim at the costliest portion of the budget: salaries.

“Teachers who teach their own classrooms have not been reduced.  Certified Education Assistants, because of the classroom support focus, have not been reduced,” noted Dr. Nixon.  “Teachers at the district level…there are some reductions now because those are individual positions, and they’re very specific.”

Nixon says incremental salary increases paid to relief staffers and District part-timers are costing SD73 about $1.3 million next year.

Students prioritized, but extra attention targeted

SD73 Board Chair Heather Grieve says they did take a good look at issues facing students before making their budgetary decisions.

She says this includes language and math results, graduation rates and staffing issues, among other concerns.

“We take all of that into consideration, and we receive the recommendations around how we go about accounting for increased costs with the funding,” said Grieve.  “[The funding] is not keeping up with the pace of the increase in the costs that we need to continue to run the District.”

Grieve says part of what also needs to be done is stronger advocacy.

“We have an obligation to continue conversations at a provincial level and with our local MLAs and mayor and council and really be a collective voice for some of the things that we think may be areas for improvement within the way that funding is considered in education,” said Grieve. “Are there ways that we can have these conversations around the impacts of inflation, the impacts of escalating relief costs and things like that? And how can we have a collective voice around that?”

“We have a fiduciary duty to approve a balanced budget and that is something that is going to be incredibly important for us,” added Grieve.  “We cannot be in deficit.”

Under provincial mandate, school districts in British Columbia are required to submit balanced, deficit-free budgets to Victoria.

However, they are encouraged to retain any surplus cash they have at the end of their fiscal year and put it into different funds, which many districts — including Kamloops-Thompson — have been digging into in recent years to make up for shortfalls.

One of those ‘rainy day funds’ that SD73 had been maintaining was given a major hit due to an accounting error that saw the District spend some $2 million more than its operational budget had been calling for the previous school year.

While that ended up costing a number of people their jobs as well, the Superintendent insists the new budget is more about the cost hits the District is taking.

“This budget is not a reflection of the accounting error. The accounting error was rectified in this budget year, and we are starting with an amended budget that has a positive amount in it,” said Dr. Nixon.  “That is where our starting point is. It’s a stable budget.”

The report to the District presented on April 7th indicates the Board is already targeting a restoration of $1.8 million of that money through earlier cost savings.

Parents worry over classroom impact

The head of the District Parent Advisory Council for SD73 says she’s concerned the proposed cuts may end up impacting the more vulnerable students in the District.

Bonnie McBride says the specific geographic locations or grade levels where the teaching and support staff cuts are coming from have not been made clear.

The D-PAC chair argues there are already significant challenges that at-risk students in SD73 are facing in their reading and math skills, while the District also struggles to overcome lower high school completion rates for Indigenous students.

“Our focus, of course, is on the students and the student experience,” said McBride.  “Our expectation is that the Board presents a plan that meets the goals in their strategic plan and provides the information we require about how every student in every classroom is going to get their needs met.”

“This budget, as presented, does not give us that information,” added McBride.

McBride says there are also concerns about the potential cuts on students outside of Kamloops.

“We know that our students in rural schools have less opportunity to experience some of those programs that are available at the District level,” said McBride.  “Seeing that there will be less time for District programming with those District teachers is a significant concern to us.”

“We are not prepared to accept less education and a less robust experience for children in some parts of our District than others,” she added.

The Kamloops-Thompson School District is still leaving a window open for possible changes, with thoughts and ideas being accepted until April 21st.

Those with concerns are being asked to first review the budget presentation, then provide feedback in written submissions through email, regular mail, or by dropping off a note to a school principal or supervisor.

The SD73 Board is planning on passing its 2025-26 budget on April 28th.