Boards of education should be exempt from the harmonized sales tax when it comes into effect next summer, say parents, teachers and other workers in the Saanich school district.

The HST could cost the Saanich district about $300,000 annually, said secretary-treasurer Joan Axford. The cost to B.C. school districts has been estimated at $24 million by the B.C. Association of School Business Officials in a brief submitted to the provincial government, she said.

Axford said the HST, which combines the provincial sales tax and the goods and services tax, would add a number of costs for school districts. "We currently don't pay PST on service contracts, architectural fees, dues and fees to belong to an organization, some of our travel costs, etc.," Axford said.

An HST exemption or rebate, similar to what municipal governments will receive, is one of four steps the provincial government should take to reassess its approach to education, the Saanich contingent says in a letter to Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid.

Representatives from the Saanich board of education, the Saanich Teachers' Association, the Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils of Saanich and Local 441 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees all signed the letter Thursday at the Saanich school district office. The Saanich Indian school board also supports the effort.

The letter calls for reinstatement of the annual facilities grant -- which provides districts with money for school maintenance and upgrades -- sufficient funds for the move to full-day kindergarten in 2010 and 2011, and funding to cover such rising district expenses as teacher salaries and pension contributions and medical services premiums.

Ian McLean, a CUPE national representative, called the banding together of all the groups to sign the district's letter an "anomaly" and proof that the issues are of huge importance. "We can't all be wrong," he said.

Saanich board chairwoman MaryLynne Rimer said the district wrestled with a $3.6-million budget deficit this year and is looking at the possibility of a $2.7-million deficit in 2010-11. This year's budget deficit resulted in layoffs for 20 teachers and diminished hours for 20 more, said Donnie Peterson, first vice-president of the Saanich Teachers' Association.

With full-day kindergarten, the district said portable classrooms will have to be added at Brentwood, Keating and Prospect Lake elementary schools at a total moving cost of $175,000, and furniture and other materials will cost another $25,000. District officials also expressed concern about the displacement of children in before- and after-school care programs that make use of the portables.

jwbell@tc.canwest.com