Education minister warned of budget shortfall
[Sunshine] Coast Reporter
By Shannon Bond
July 10, 2009

Sechelt – School District No. 46 (SD46) board of trustees sent a clear message to the Ministry of Education: more funding is needed.

A letter outlining how the district was forced to dip into reserve funds to balance the 2009/10 budget due to a lack of ministerial funding was sent last week to newly appointed Margaret MacDiarmid, minister of education.

Board chair Silas White wrote, “… it’s an alarming situation when a board has to dip into surplus reserves in order to balance its preliminary budget. It’s a clear indication that the annual funding we’re getting from the ministry is about $424,000 short of covering the core educational needs and requirements for the Sunshine Coast and our students.”

… By law, boards of education cannot run deficits, which left no other option to balance the budget except to use reserves.

Superintendent Deborah Palmer said …“Although there were cuts in some areas and we have had to find funds in our local budget for provincial initiatives such as curriculum changes and data collection, we are … supporting our students and schools with district money for libraries, music instruction and special education,” said Palmer.

"We’re also keeping up extra local funding for class-size reduction, trades and apprenticeships, early learning, technology, special education programs and curriculum support.”…