The Sooke and Saanich school boards have filed their 2023-24 budgets without the same wrangling that the Greater Victoria School Board faced in covering a $3.8-million budget shortfall.
B.C.’s 60 school boards are required to file balanced budgets each year by June 30.
The Greater Victoria board approved a $300.7-million budget last month that was balanced in part with a 10 per cent across-the-board cut to all departments.
Popular middle-school music and elementary-strings programs were maintained.
For the Sooke School Board, its $206-million budget for 2023-24 includes an increase of $17.5 million over last year’s budget.
Additions include 34.6 full-time-equivalent classroom teachers, two more early-childhood educators, increased support for the Indigenous Education Department and 1.23 full-time-equivalent school counsellors.
Keeping up with rising student enrolment continues to be an issue in the district, one of the fastest-growing in the province.
“While growth remains a challenge in terms of student space, the added enrollment funding allows the district to continue enhancing supports for students and staff,” said secretary-treasurer Harold Cull.
The Sooke School District had a record jump of more than 800 students in 2021 and added about 600 more in 2022. It currently has about 12,000 students and is anticipated to grow by up to 300 students annually over the next 15 years.
Meanwhile, the Saanich School Board has given the nod to a budget of about $118 million, said board chair Tim Dunford.
Balancing the budget involved drawing on contingency reserves for almost $1.7 million, which means only about $200,000 in contingency funds is expected to be left by the end of the year, said secretary-treasurer Jason Reid.
Dunford said he believes contingency money shouldn’t be used for balancing budgets over the long term, saying it’s not sustainable.
No reductions to programs had to be made during the budget process, Dunford said, but the district plans to conduct a review of where it might be able to save over the next year.
Any added provincial funding for enrolment growth over the next year will be used to reduce budget pressures, Dunford said.
jbell@timescolonist.com
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