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Province taking funds from schools, say Greater Victoria trustees

Greater Victoria school trustees want the B.C.

Greater Victoria school trustees want the B.C. government to stop dipping into money that they say belongs to them

Every year, the government holds back a portion of the money that it distributes to school districts in order to deal with fluctuations in enrolment or unexpected budget pressures. The so-called “holdback funds” are then released throughout the year after enrolment counts.

The government released $51 million in December after the September enrolment counts and held back another $28 million to be released this year.

But the government also informed districts that it planned to use $2 million of that money to pay the operating costs of the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association.

Trustees complained this week that, in the past, Education Ministry covered those costs from its own budget and urged the government to release all the money owed to districts — including the BCPSEA money.

“We need 100 per cent of the funding promised to our school district in order to meet our budgetary requirements,” said Greater Victoria board chairwoman Peg Orcherton in a statement.

Vancouver trustees made a similar request last week and said paying for BCPSEA costs out of the holdback fund was a form of cost downloading.

“This cost was previously paid for directly by the ministry,” said Vancouver board chairwoman Patti Bacchus in a recent letter to Education Minister Don McRae.

“This change results in a downloading of costs from the ministry to school districts and was made without notice or consultation with school districts.”

Education Ministry spokesman Scott Sutherland said enrolment was 3,000 students below projections this year, leaving more in the holdback fund than expected.

He said the BCPSEA costs are a K-12 education expense that have been paid by the ministry or districts in the past.

“It was deemed sensible this year to use a small portion of the holdback fund to cover this expense,” he said.

He said the government expects to release more of the holdback funds in March based on the February enrolment count.

lkines@timescolonist.com