VANCOUVER – A failed attempt to wring more money out of the provincial government Tuesday left the Vancouver board of education warning parents that it now has no choice but to make “horrendous” cuts to education programs for September.
“Our short-term problem is still here,” board chairwoman Patti Bacchus stated after a tense private meeting with Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid, which was called to discuss harsh criticisms of the board in a recent report by comptroller general Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland.“We’re going to have to go out and, courtesy of the minister, make horrendous cuts to our district.”
Neither Bacchus nor the minister were able to point to any significant progress during the 50-minute meeting. MacDiarmid, who walked out of the room 10 minutes earlier than expected, said she remains deeply concerned about Vancouver’s operations — given the special adviser’s assessment — and believes the board is in denial.
“They feel that they’re doing an excellent job of governance,” she told reporters. “They’re seeming to me to be defending the status quo, and that would be something the comptroller-general definitely … has not recommended.”
Bacchus described the report, released Friday, as useless and coloured by the fact Wenezenki-Yolland is a government employee and a bureaucrat with no expertise in public education. She called, instead, for an independent review — possibly by B.C.’s auditor-general — to determine whether public-school funding, now worth almost $5 billion a year, is sufficient to cover rising costs.
In her report, the comptroller-general concluded that Vancouver’s financial woes could have been avoided if the board had managed resources appropriately.
The standoff means spending reductions that were proposed before Wenezenki-Yolland’s appointment as a special adviser — including teacher layoffs and cuts to school music programs — are back on the table.
“Are there other cuts we can make and save some of those items? I don’t know. It’s not going to be pretty. The cuts that people were out rallying against in April — they’re back,” Bacchus said.
Trustees plan to vote on a new 2010-11 budget June 23, the same day the district intends to identify several schools for possible closure. The district, which has an annual budget of about $480 million, says it needs to trim spending by $17 million, although the comptroller-general says the shortfall is closer to $11 million.
MacDiarmid described Tuesday’s meeting — her first with the board since last summer — as difficult, adding that trustees were stung by Wenezenki-Yolland’s conclusions. “We do have differing views of the report,” the minister said, adding she is deeply concerned about the conclusions while trustees were fairly dismissive.
Noting that provincial funding for education has increased this year despite difficult financial times, MacDiarmid insisted there will be no more dollars. Wenezenki-Yolland also suggested the minister should review the co-governance model for public education because the parties aren’t clear about who’s responsible for what. Connie Denesiuk, president of the B.C. School Trustees’ Association, said she would welcome such discussions.
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