Yellowknife's public school board is gearing up to slash seven teaching positions and eight other staff in order to prop up a balance sheet that in three years went from a $1.4-million surplus to $1.2 million in the hole.
Dave Sullivan
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Apr 27/01) - More than 250 parents and teachers crammed the gym at William Mcdonald school Wednesday night to hear the bleak reality facing the public school board.
With the release of this spring's proposed budget, board officials didn't beat around the bush to announce the $1.2-million deficit now facing the district.
| Minister surprised Education Minister Jake Ootes says he'll try to work out differences with Yellowknife Education District No. 1 by having his people meet with their people to try and see if there's a better way to get through the school board's budget crisis. He said teacher layoffs being proposed should be "a last resort." Other than saying he was caught by surprise at the board's accusation his department is forcing classes to be larger by holding back $600,000, his reaction was muted when reached Thursday. "They have their interpretation" of what caused a $1.2 million budget shortfall, Ootes said. "We need to know how they're arriving at their figures." Without promising any extra funding, Ootes said he hopes "we can work something out." The minister said his department will work with the district to "work out a system where they can work out of their deficit." |
Three years ago the board had a huge surplus but went on a splurge, spending every nickel of it renovating Sir John Franklin high school. The territorial government paid $14 million, but the board decided to add $1.4 million for "extras" like new lockers.
"At the time it felt very good" spending the surplus on a "vision," trustee Terry Brooks told a public meeting April 24.
Parent Jane Curran told the crowd of about 250, "You can have quality education in a church basement. What you need is teachers." Curran received applause for her statement.
Education money that should go to Yellowknife is being used to subsidize schools in other areas by keeping their class sizes small, board chair Dan Schofield charges.
The GNWT is required to provide enough funding for a teacher to pupil ratio of 17.5 to one across the territory. But the government's shortfall would make the ratio 18.3 students for each teacher in Yellowknife.
A proposed budget bumps the ratio to 17 to one from the current board policy of 16 to one. A secretary position at board headquarters will also likely be cut.
Class size is a sensitive issue, and demands were made for anything but teacher cuts and bigger classes during the meeting.
Residents said today's children have less discipline yet are thrust into bigger classes, with up to 30 students.
Salaries make up 80 per cent of education costs, leaving little room for saving big by cutting "pencils and paper."
Parents and teachers want to dull the pain of sharp cuts by spreading them over many years, but Schofield rules that out.
He says the law requires the board to cover debts within three years. The first year's goal is wiping out the deficit, leaving two years to pay back the $1.2 million.
Cutting that much will put high-risk children at further risk if vulnerable teacher aide jobs are axed, said trustee Marla Bullock. Precise positions haven't yet been targeted for layoffs.
Karen Willy, whose child is autistic, asked, "What happens to those kids? We don't have enough staff now to deal with special needs children." Some teachers believe the budget being proposed is a setup to win concessions during wage negotiations.
"I don't think it's a co-incidence we're having this meeting and it's a contract year," teacher Jeff Seabrook said.
Until two years ago salaries had been frozen for seven years, and now Northern teachers are drooling at fruitful salary contracts reached in Alberta.
"No way is this a bullying tactic," Bullock said of the proposed cuts' impact on teachers.
Options are out there
NWT Teachers' Union rep Chriss Tricoteux called the proposed budget a "piece of garbage." The board could wipe out its deficit by selling real estate. It owns a 24-unit apartment building it no longer needs valued at $1.4 million, but Nordic Arms rakes in $160,000 a year -- the price of two teachers.
In addition to the $600,000 territorial government shortfall, it also loses funding for 80 students at Ecole Alain-St. Cyr. That school and its students are being turned over to a newly-formed francophone board in July. Yellowknife district No. 1 won't even get money for the brand new $3.25-million building it loses, because it was mostly paid for by the federal government, which holds the deed.
Yellowknife schools are top-heavy with experienced, and expensive teachers.
Over half earn the highest possible pay. If all teachers were at the mid-point of experience on a "salary grid," the district would save $900,000 a year.
Over $4.5 million of the board's $20 million yearly spending comes from the City of Yellowknife.
With the city reeling from lost revenue since the Giant Mine closure, even that money is expected to be $60,000 short of the mark.
The school board has until June 30 to pass the budget.
