RSVP:  https://forms.gle/nX8E8cQip86bG1Bc7

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Dear PACs and contacts:

Please read the attached letter VCPAC wrote to the school board about budget priorities for families of district students. This letter was written based on feedback received since the beginning of this year from PACs through our regular meetings, emails and calls.

Funding to the Ministry of Education and Child Care in the recently announced provincial budget has no increases beyond those that came because of contract negotiations. Based on some early analysis, it does not appear to cover any inflation and there are no additional funds for items like the K-12 Anti-Racism Action Plan. This year the school district is projecting a deficit of about 4 million dollars, and as school districts cannot have a deficit budget, the district is looking at cuts.

Tuesday night there was a public budget meeting; you can watch the presentations here:

https://www.youtube.com/live/h-wIySyBdpk?feature=share

After the presentations, there were table discussions of some areas with scenarios of decreases or increases to the budget. These included:

 

• A suggested increase to the budget for education assistants to create 30 hour per week positions at 5 priority schools (a doubling of the initiative from last year)
•  Different scenarios for elementary strings and middle school music programs
• Different scenarios for custodial support
• Discussion of the urgent need for technology spending and options
• Discussion of mental health funding which is the highest priority cited by students

 

We are concerned as always that other options were not brought forward that keep cuts further away from students.

We really appreciate the time and work that went into this evening and the conversations were collaborative and engaging.

The school district is taking feedback to  and we encourage you to submit your thoughts.

You can always direct comments on any district items to 

Tracy Humphreys
VCPAC President

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Attachments:

VCPAC Letter to SD61 Board Budget Priorities 2023-24.docx

Music Feedback to SD61 Budget 2Mar2023 

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Here is the letter sent to the SD61 Board. It was cc'd to the stakeholders, rights holders and Minister of Education and Child Care as discussed at the VCPAC meeting.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=https://vcpac.ca/vcpac-documents/vcpac-letter-to-gvsd61-board-of-trustees-12oct2022/download?p=1

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VCPAC will be sharing their Zoom license with PACs when it is not in use.  Contact for more information.  The schedule can be found at:  https://vcpac.ca/zoom-schedule/month.calendar

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