As the Prince George School District gets set for budget deliberations next month, trustees are trying to come up with ideas how to find $1.35 million in required administrative cuts.
At the start of the year the board floated the idea of a $100 school bus fee, but a parental backlash made the board cool to the idea in subsequent meetings.
In an exclusive interview with MY PG NOW last week, Premier Christy Clark maintained there was still plenty of administrative fat to cut at districts across the province.
“Hospitals have done it, areas all across government have done it, school boards are the last institution in the province that has yet to really crack open those savings that can be found in administration.”
When questioned about the possibility of administrative savings cuts being passed onto parents through things like a bussing fee, Clark said districts need to “look harder at trying to find administrative savings in administration. Not trying to get more money out of parents, not in trying to cut frontline services. But by finding the savings in administration.”
The Premier stated taxpayers don’t want to pay extra for “too many human resources managers and accounting offices” suggesting School Districts centralize more administration.
But SD57 Board Chair Tony Cable says all the extra fat and ‘low hanging fruit’ was eliminated years ago. “We don’t have any easy fixes, we have a pretty lean administration and accounting department. Any cuts we make are indirectly going to affect the students.”
Board Vice Chair Tim Bennett voiced similar frustrations.
“Districts our size in other sectors, they have things like communications officers, they have large HR and finance departments. Our staff is very minimal in all those areas and there’s nowhere else to cut.”
Earlier this year SD57 Trustees sent a letter to Premier Clark and the Ministers of Finance and Education protesting the cuts. Additional similar letters are expected in the months to come.
Budget deliberations for the 2016 / 17 annual budget are planned for May 17th.