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Board passes bad news budget

Tue, 13 Aug, 2013

Board passes bad news budget

At yesterday’s regularly scheduled board meeting, the Board of Trustees passed the District’s budget for the 2013-2014 school year; Trustees expressed both sadness and regret as they did so.

As part of the $934 million budget, the District will lose the equivalent of 339 full time positions, including 182 teaching positions.

“This is not a good news budget,” says Board Chair Sarah Hoffman. “We are losing over 300 positions. This is devastating to our dedicated staff and we know it will impact the level of service we are able to provide our students.”

Trustees extensively questioned and debated the proposed budget at the June 11 board meeting, where they received it as an information report. Trustees further debated the budget and voted to pass it at last night’s board meeting.

“Trustees felt this was the best possible use of our limited resources,” said Hoffman. “As a District, we were planning on a two per cent increase and instead we received a three per cent decrease. Needless to say, we are very disappointed. Our Board will continue to advocate for adequate, predictable and sustainable funding for public education.”