The New Westminster school district will get significantly more money from the province for its operations in 2023-24 — but how far those dollars will go remains to be seen.
The district will see $9.2 million more in funding this coming year, increasing from $70.6 million in 2022-23 to $79.8 million in 2023-24.
The bump in funding is two-fold, stemming from both enrolment growth and an increase in the B.C. Ministry of Education and Child Care’s per-student grants.
The district expects about 280 more students next year than this year, which will mean $2.56 million more in funding.
At the same time, all school districts across B.C. are seeing an increase in their per-student allocation from the province. That’s going up 9.4 per cent (or $740 per student) for a total of $8,625 per student. On top of that basic allocation, amounts designated for unique student needs are also rising.
All told, SD40 will see $6.6 million more funding in 2023-24 because of the rate increase.
SD40 secretary-treasurer Bettina Ketcham said most of the extra funding will be used to cover the costs of labour settlements that were provincially negotiated early this year.
“There’s really not a lot of room there that was contemplated outside of those wage settlements to reflect the pace of inflation, for example,” she told trustees at their April 11 operations committee meeting.
Other extra money will be coming the district’s way via new funding announced by the province for school food programs. That money will allow the school district to redirect some of the money it currently uses to fund the Fuel Up lunch program in its elementary and middle schools. More details on that funding, and how it will be used, will be available as the district continues its budget process.
Right now, the district is working with a base budget for 2023/24 that shows a surplus of $178,000.
That number will change as the district continues work on the budget.
This week, SD40 is holding focus groups with stakeholders — including its unions (the New Westminster Teachers’ Union and CUPE Local 409), its Principals and Vice-Principals Association, the Student Voice group from New Westminster Secondary School, the Indigenous education committee and the district parent advisory council.
Feedback from those consultations will be shared with trustees in advance of the April 25 school board meeting.
On May 2, superintendent Karim Hachlaf will present his recommendations to the board on the budget, which will be adopted by the end of May.
Follow Julie MacLellan on Twitter @juliemaclellan.
Email Julie, [email protected]
