Trustees push to break budget law
Nanaimo News Bulletin
By Jenn Marshall
May 03, 2010

Two Nanaimo trustees urged their colleagues to defy provincial law last week and submit a deficit budget.

The district needs to cut $2.8 million in programs, services and staff to balance the books.

School boards are required by law to submit a balanced budget each year.

While trustee Carol McNamee’s motion to submit a deficit budget was only supported by one other trustee – Andrea Bonkowski – it opened up a serious discussion among trustees about the merits and consequences of such a move.

“I want to see where people are standing on this,” said McNamee. “If we don’t reach a bottom line, that bottom line is going to keep moving. What we want is to send a message that says, ‘Enough is enough.’”

Trustee Sharon Welch pointed out that breaking the balanced-budget law would likely get the board fired.

The Vancouver School Board issued a press release earlier this year stating it couldn’t cope with the funding level from the province, prompting Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid to appoint a special advisor to review the district’s finances and make recommendations.

In 1985, the Vancouver board was fired for submitting a deficit budget – the last time this has been done – and replaced by an appointed administrator.

“If we’re removed and a special advisor comes in, we’ve lost what we’ve been doing for the last year and a half,” she said….

Kip Wood, president of the Nanaimo District Teachers’ Association, urged trustees to defy the rules.

“We believe that the time has come,” he said. “I don’t think the trustees can just continue to make multi million-dollar cuts every year.”

McNamee said if one board had the courage to do submit a deficit budget, other boards might follow.

“We’re down to the bare bones as is and there’s no way we’re not going to be impacting kids in the classroom. There’s a point where surely the public will react to this.”