Voting for school board trustees is just as important as electing municipal councillors, says the Sooke school district superintendent.
“The key thing for us is that they have responsibility for governance and budgeting for around 11,000 students, which is a budget of over $100 million for the school district,” Scott Stinson said.
“That’s a pretty significant responsibility for people that are often elected on not a huge proportion of the population.
“They act in that governance role but they also act as kind of the key link politically for us between local municipalities and the provincial government.”
As well, trustees advocate for the need for new schools and school sites — something that is especially important in the fast-growing Sooke district.
“That’s a huge piece for us,” Stinson said. “We’re up around 400 students again this year, which is around 4.5 per cent of our population. So if we’re growing at that rate annually, that’s a big part of the work that our trustees are engaged in.”
Councillors and trustees do not function in exactly the same way, he said.
“The one difference is that school boards act as a corporate entity — individually they don’t have power, but collectively they do,” Stinson said.
“They do influence the values and direction that the school district heads in. They influence the work of senior executives in particular, and how that translates down through the system in terms of direct service to students.”
A trustee’s role is broader than some people might think, he said.
“Even for people that don’t have children in the system, trustees are spending taxpayers’ money and making sure they get good value for the dollar.”
Greater Victoria school district superintendent Shelley Green said the district’s trustees “are dedicated to looking at the big picture for the entire school district, which is a big responsibility.”
She said the current group of trustees has talked to a range of community groups and created a strategic plan that calls for a broad approach, even as they deal with individual items.
The idea is to engage the public in what the board does, Green said.
“This trustee group were dedicated to finding what does our entire Victoria school district community believe in in education. Where did they see us going and what did they want us to do?”
Trustees take on all sorts of matters for the district and have a very important role, Green said.
“Dress code was a perfect example,” she said.” Trustees were out and about at schools, heard complaints from parents and brought those issues as they came forward to the board table.”
Budgeting is another key are for trustees, who are “sifting through and making sure we spend the money appropriately,” Green said.
The district budget is about $235 million.
Green said trustees deserve a lot of credit and don’t always get the recognition that their municipal counterparts do.
“I don’t think people understand the work that trustees do — they just don’t get to be seen as much. Councillors are in the media a lot. Maybe trustees are just that quieter entity.”
About the school districts
Greater Victoria
• 20,000 students
• 44 schools — 27 elementary, 10 middle and seven secondary
• Budget — about $235 million
Saanich
• 8,000 students
• 14 schools — eight elementary, three middle and three secondary
• Budget — about $92 million
Sooke
• 10,600 students
• 26 schools — 18 elementary, four middle, three secondary and one adult/alternative
• Budget — about $123 million
Gulf Islands
• 1,700 students
• 10 schools — four elementary, one middle, one secondary, four combined
• Budget — about $25.5 million
School boards are required to submit a balanced budget by June 30 each year.
