Janet Steffenhagen, Vancouver Sun

A Vancouver Island board of education will defy provincial law and submit a deficit budget for the next school year because its members are not willing to cut any more student services due to inadequate funding, the chairwoman said Thursday.

Helen Parker said Saanich trustees who made the difficult decision to approve a $2.8-million deficit in a $73-million operating budget for 2011-12 aren’t worried they might be fired for transgressing the School Act. “It’s not about us,” she said. “We’re doing what we’re doing for the kids.”…

Some trustees in other parts of the province were applauding. ….Parker said her board has taken steps to reduce expenditures and increase local revenues to supplement provincial funding, including expanding its international student program, boosting transportation fees and raising rental rates for school facilities. It’s also acted to ensure efficiencies, she added.

“We’re a fiscally conservative board … we’re not a board that’s hugely rebellious,” she said. “[But] for some trustees, ethically, they just couldn’t do this any more.”…