The Greater Victoria School District announced Monday that it was postponing that night’s scheduled vote on its controversial 2021-22 budget while it consults with an independent adviser.
The move follows a noisy protest Saturday against proposed cuts to music and other programs in the district to deal with a $7-million deficit in the $253-million budget.
“We heard the feedback from our learning community loud and clear, so we’re requesting outside support to help the board balance and approve its budget,” said school board chair Jordan Watters.
Watters said she and superintendent Shelley Green have asked the Ministry of Education to assist in finding an independent adviser “to help review the process and options and make recommendations to the board.”
For weeks, students and families have been protesting the board’s proposed cuts to middle-school music, elementary strings and other programs in the district to deal with the deficit. School districts are required by the province to file balanced budgets.
On Saturday afternoon, protesters lined downtown streets waving banners and honking horns between the school district office and the legislature.
“Really the level of engagement has been amazing and they are speaking with one voice, and so we are acting on that,” said Watters, noting the district is not expecting additional funding but hopes to make as few cuts as possible. “We’re looking for creative solutions.”
Watters said the decision to hold off on budget talks was made Sunday.
“It’s clear that we need to take a different tack,” she said, acknowledging the move by the district to put off the vote is rare. “I think we’ve just heard the feedback from our learning community and how challenging this is, and so we really need to get it right.
“Hopefully, getting another set of eyes in there will help us and help the community understand what the options are.”
Watters said school boards are required to produce a balanced budget by June, so there are still a few weeks of work that can be done.
Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside said the province has been in touch with the Greater Victoria School District for weeks. She said the district requested on Friday “some assistance with identifying an appropriate adviser to provide some advice and some counsel as they work through this process and we’re happy to do that, too.”
Karin Kwan, who has two children in music programs at Cedar Hill Middle School, said she is “cautiously optimistic.”
“We’re grateful that there will be an adviser appointed,” she said. “Good for them that they’re calling someone in.”
Kwan, one of the organizers of Advocacy for Music in Schools, said Saturday’s large rally showed the school district just how much people care about music and other programs.
Watters said the deficit is tied in part to the fact that the district has 330 fewer students during the current school year than expected, which is a financial hit since provincial funding is on a per-pupil basis. The number of teachers is set in advance of the start of classes.
And while federal funding has covered some of the increased cost of operating during the COVID-19 pandemic, Watters said it is one-time funding that won’t be coming back.
“Last year we had the federal funds to help us through [the budget] and this year we don’t.”
The bottom line has also been affected by a drop in income from the international-student program and a reduction in revenue from renting out school facilities.
