The New Westminster school board wants to make sure B.C.’s school districts get stable and secure funding from the province to help them with post-pandemic recovery.
The school board’s operations committee voted April 13 to support a report from the B.C. School Trustees Association. That report, which was published in March, calls on the province to provide continuing post-pandemic funding for six priorities: mental health, vulnerable learners, food security, cleanliness, connectivity and financial resources.
“It is recognized and appreciated that boards of education received additional funding to mitigate pandemic response-related costs,” said a background report from trustee Danielle Connelly, presented to the operations committee. “However, moving forward, school districts will require pandemic recovery funding to meet operating needs, as well as additional needs identified in the report.”
Connelly’s report acknowledges the province is facing post-pandemic economic pressures but says it would be “false economy” to use service cuts to help in economic recovery.
“The pandemic highlighted the important role school services and programming provide in communities,” the report says. “It is time to actualize the predictable and stable funding necessary to create and maintain crucial initiatives for our students going forward.”
Trustees voted unanimously to recommend that the board advocate to Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside for that funding. A final vote on the issue is coming to the school board Tuesday, April 27.
Follow Julie MacLellan on Twitter @juliemaclellan.
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