Students could feel pinch

The Kamloops-Thompson school district says student learning could take a hit as it places professional development and school software budgets on the chopping block in an effort to climb out of a $2-million hole caused by an accounting error.

As a result of a piece of revenue being counted twice in the district’s financial forecast, SD73 spent money it didn’t have, resulting in the $2-million shortfall.

The $846,923 in the district’s local capital fund has been drained completely. The reserves in SD73’s operating funds have dropped to $1.45 million, from $3.5 million at the beginning of the year.

SD73 said part of a budget reduction plan presented on Monday will include senior staff finding ways to reduce spending on supplies and services by 15 to 25 per cent district-wide.

Speaking with Castanet Kamloops, SD73 treasurer-secretary Trina Cassidy said supplies and services cuts will include costs for professional development.

“If it's over the lunch hour, as an example, they may bring in a meal for the teachers, and there could be meeting costs associated. So they may have a speaker, they may have purchased a book, they may have some other professional resources,” Cassidy said.

SD73’s professional development and travel budget in 2023-24 was more than $1.7 million, marking a 16-per-cent increase over the previous year.

Cassidy said the district would also be looking at cancelling and reviewing contracts for software.

“It would be educational software as it relates to providing surveys and whatnot,” she said.

Will learning be impacted?

The district’s plan intends to cut down on the amount in its supplies budget that goes unspent — $1.4 million to $1.9 million on average over the last five years.

Cassidy said the supply and services cuts won’t affect small-sized schools in the district.

“We recognize that there are some schools that are smaller, like in Savona and Vavenby and Blue River,” she said.

“It takes a smaller school a lot longer to be able to replace a set of Chromebooks, for example. So we did not touch those schools, nor did we touch schools under 100 students.”

The district’s supplies and services budget saw a nearly $1-million increase to $23.7 million in 2023-24. Cassidy said the yearly increase was attributable to ministry funding for facility maintenance costs, increases in student enrolment and carry-forward amounts from the year prior.

SD73 Supt. Rhonda Nixon said the budget reduction plan aims to not directly affect classrooms and their supply budgets, but she acknowledged the cuts could still affect student learning.

“I don't want to minimize the importance of professional learning or the importance of software that maybe was used,” Nixon said.

“Everything affects student learning, but we stayed away from the classroom.”

Eyeing substitute savings

SD73's plan will also increase monitoring of relief costs at the district level, which have doubled over the last five years.

The district spent $10.6 million on relief and replacement last school year — $2.3 million over budget.

“Throughout COVID, there was some strong messaging about stay at home if you had a sniffle. But now that we're coming out of COVID, the costs still continue to rise,” Cassidy said.

She noted professional development, which has been increasing, also contributes to absenteeism.

Cassidy said the district will be examining relief costs in order to determine where it can make cuts.

Staff cuts 'a last resort'

Last week, Nixon said no staffing cuts have been made as a result of the plan, nor are any planned. When asked again this week, she said staff cuts would be used as a last resort.

“We have made a commitment to review the plan, especially in light of enrolment that we have to confirm for the 2024-25 year, and it is not my intention to reduce staffing,” she said.

“It would be a last resort, but there is always a potential.”

The district will also increase its per-kilometre field trip charge to help cover the deficit.

The plan will address $1.5 million to $2.2 million each year to replenish the district’s reserves. SD73 said the plan would take one to two years.