The New Westminster school district will take a financial hit from the COVID-19 pandemic – but how big a hit, and for how long, remains to be seen.
Bettina Ketcham, the school district’s secretary-treasurer, gave a budget presentation to the school board at its operations policy and planning committee April 21.
She said the district is “fairly well poised” to meet its budgeted revenues for 2019/20, but it’s not without some hitches due to COVID-19.
Ketcham noted a few areas where school district revenue is taking a hit: cafeteria revenue at New Westminster Secondary School, which could result in a potential shortfall of about $41,425; rental fees for community use of school facilities, which could amount to a $72,000 loss; and interest on short-term investments because of a reduction in global interest rates, to the tune of $100,000.
“We certainly are impacted from a revenue standpoint,” she said.
Another area that stood to be affected by COVID-19 was tuition fees paid by international students.
But Ketcham said the school district is in good shape for the rest of 2019/20, since 42 of the 50 international students who have returned to their home countries are still pursuing their schooling with New Westminster remotely. Even with the loss of eight students, however, the school district’s revenues aren’t poised to change because the deadline for tuition refunds has passed.
On the expenses side, the district has some opportunities for saving because of the pandemic – such as the costs for teacher-on-call and support-staff casuals. Ketcham said the district has asked the Ministry of Education if they will be clawing back any of those savings; so far, the ministry is not planning to do so, but she noted that could change.
Trustee Danielle Connelly questioned whether there’s been any news from the province on potential special funding for COVID-19-related costs.
Ketcham said the ministry has asked districts to report what the impacts are for the current budget year, both in terms of costs and savings.
“I don’t know what bearing that will have in future years in terms of any sort of funding, but I wouldn’t be holding my breath that any additional supports are going to be provided as a result,” she said. “What they’ll do with that is not yet that clear.”
The New Westminster district, like other school districts, stands to be even more affected in 2020/21, depending on how the COVID-19 situation unfolds.
Ketcham said facility rentals and interest rates may well continue to impact next year’s budget.
And she said the international program is one area of “major uncertainty and risk” for New Westminster and other Metro Vancouver districts. She said the New Westminster district has the capacity to bring students in for the new school year, but there’s still uncertainty about potential global travel restrictions.
“That is a federal decision, to be honest, and one that we have no control of whatsoever,” she said. “While we have recruited quite well and are hoping that our students do arrive, there is no certainty that our borders will be open for them to do so, in which case a substantial impact will be felt on our 2020-2021 budget.”
On the expenses side, Ketcham pointed out the pandemic could also add extra costs to the 2020/21 budget – for items such as increased sick leave in the event of a second wave of the pandemic, and additional custodial staffing to keep facilities clean.
Moreover, she pointed out, the district could well find itself paying more for supplies.
“Things start to become more expensive as more demand is placed on supply, so you can expect that costs might start to increase,” she said.
Ketcham also noted the district could end up with additional equipment purchases – for items such as laptops, printers and software to support the new instructional environment, or for specialized cleaning and personal protective equipment.
“These are all unknowns that we are trying to wait and see and plan for accordingly,” she said.
“The budget process for 2020/21 is fraught with a lot of uncertainty at this point, and we’re hoping that in the coming weeks when things start to hopefully return to normal, we have a better handle on what these impacts will be.”
