Richmond School District facing $7.2 million shortfall

The Richmond School District is facing a $7.2 million budget shortfall for the 2021/2022 year.

A budget update report to the school board blames the shortfall on declines in enrolment, lower revenues, changes in the delivery of education programming and enhanced health and safety requirements, all a result of the pandemic. 

“We’re anticipating that we are going to need to maintain certain of those safety and cleanliness measures in the fall, but nothing has been announced in terms of any follow-up funding from either government,” said Sandra Nixon, school board chair.

The board is required to submit a balanced budget for the 2021/2022 school year to the Ministry of Education by June 30.

Nixon said school trustees are focusing on two key priorities when making decisions around the budget.

“One is COVID recovery, and what we need to ensure that we’re doing that well, not just health and safety, but also looking at potential learning loss from students who’ve been out of the classroom and online,” she said, adding that recovery includes mental health challenges students may have faced this year.

The second priority, she said, is the district’s strategic goals.

The projected shortfall comes ahead of any budget adjustments. For example, it’s currently projected that there will be an “unrestricted fund balance” of $9.8 million at the end of the current school year, which the board could use to balance the budget.

While that is an option, said Nixon, it would leave the board with little surplus  or  funds to put towards future capital projects.

Another option is to cut staff, although that might not actually result in job losses.

For example, the proposed cuts to nine FTE non-enrolling teachers would likely be in learning services, said Nixon.

“Those teachers may then go back to classroom positions — but it would be a loss of both learning support and teacher support positions.”

The district would then apply to have those teachers funded under the provincial Classroom Enhancement Fund, rather than funded through the district.

In a letter to the school board, Liz Baverstock, president of the Richmond Teachers Association states the district should ensure the “8.4 of enrolling teachers does not result in a staffing cut.”

Shortfalls are also expected for the 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 school years, however, those budgets are “pretty far out,” said Nixon.

“We’re expecting enrolment to increase — that was the forecast a couple of years ago — which will bring in more funding. We’re also hoping our international program will rebound fairly quickly.”