Provincial Funding

The chief source of revenue for School District 39 is Provincial Government funding.

Ninety-two percent of the budget goes to cover labour costs. The Provincial Government is responsible for negotiating the agreements with the various labour groups. In the past, contracts have included annual cost of living increases, and therefore an annual increase in the School Board's budget for labour, benefits, pension and medical premiums.

However, the amount of money allocated by the Provincial Government to pay for the labour item in the VSB budget has not included these increases. The funding for these budget items has remained the same year after year.

This meant that the only way to pay the District's employees was to divert money from other parts of the budget, ultimately reducing the service provided to our students.

The Provincial Government is underhandedly cutting student services without having to openly state their intention to do so, by outwardly under-funding Carbon Offsets and Teacher Salaries, knowing full well that the Board must take money from somewhere else to pay for these mandatory costs.

We must get a commitment from the Provincial Government to fund all costs that are mandated by the government itself, such as the labour increases, CPP, EI, WCB, extended health, MSP, the Carbon Offsets that the Board is required by law to purchase and related reporting costs, and the recently implemented British Columbia enterprise Student Information System (BCeSIS).