Vancouver looks at closing schools, raising rents and cancelling programs
Vancouver Sun
June 8, 2010
By Janet Steffenhagen

The Vancouver board of education says many of the money-saving opportunities recommended by a special adviser -- closing schools, boosting rental fees -- were already in the works and will do nothing to solve this year's budget woes….

The Vancouver school board (VSB) is already discussing rental fee increases for child care centres and other programs operating out of Vancouver schools because existing fees do not cover expenses, Bacchus added. Wenezenki-Yolland says the VSB subsidizes child care centres to the tune of $1.5 million annually, with rents averaging $2.35 an hour, compared to $12 an hour in Surrey schools.

Talk of a rent hike has operators worried. "The higher the fees, the fewer programs there'll be," noted Kelly Walker, communications manager for the YMCA, which operates before-and after-school programs in 10 Vancouver schools.

Wenezenki-Yolland suggests an increase could produce $2 million in revenue for the VSB, but Bacchus said that's too much. "We don't want to subsidize them, but we don't want to put struggling non-profits out of business, either," she said.

The report also recommends an end to junior kindergarten for four-year-olds, now offered in three inner-city schools, and tougher rules about transportation to ensure it's provided only to students who meet certain criteria. "Although these services address community needs, they are not funded [by the province] and their delivery diverts funding away from core educational services," Wenezenki-Yolland writes.

Bacchus said her board had already planned to end junior kindergarten, although reluctantly, since plans are underway to introduce kindergarten for three-and four-year-olds provincewide within five years….