The trustees of SD52 will dig
into the financials tonight as they
put the final touches on the Budget

It's Budget  Season in Prince Rupert and tonight it's the turn of School District 52 to set its financial course for the year ahead, as trustees gather at the School Board Office at 7PM for their April meeting, with the Budget the main focus for the evenings discussion.

The path towards their Budget decision making was followed over the last two months and involved public consultation and stake holder discussions, with a final glimpse at some of the factors that were to be considered delivered prior to the Spring Break last month.

A good portion of the final observations came at the Advisory Budget Consultation of March 11th at Charles Hays Secondary, where those in attendance received a fairly comprehensive overview of the focus on education for the District and the Financial planning that has been recommended for the years ahead.

For the overview on education in the District, Community Engagement and District Operations made or the foundation of the presentation, along with some of the Framework Goals that SD52 is hoping to achieve in the areas of literacy, numeracy and what they describe as Big Ideas.

The District also outlined its approach towards creating a sense of belonging as well as building relationships and Pro-Social Skills in the schools.

For the Financial side of the review, the District made note of a few elements that have an impact on Operations of the Schools that SD52 is responsible for.

Wage and Benefit projections were also highlighted, including the impact that provincial taxation and deductions has on the Budget forecast.

The Initial Draft budget provided for the working document for Trustees to review with the hard work of deciding on what to cut and what to keep making for much of the decision making to come this evening as the Board looks to put the final numbers together for the year ahead.

On the theme of potential cuts and different strategies that could be reviewed, the material outlines the potential areas for cost savings and what criteria the School District uses.

The March review also provided for some feedback from the public consultation sessions and surveys that the School District carried out through the late winter, providing trustees with some sense of what all of those involved in the education process from staff and teachers to parents and guardians believe are the key issues to be aware of.

You can review that feedback, as well as the entire Financial overview here.

The School district has also posted a range of material related to the previous gatherings and past budge work on their website.

From all of that consultation and review of material will come the final word on the School District financials of later tonight.

The seven trustees will sharpen their pencils for a 7PM start this evening.

For more items of note related to Education in the Northwest see our archive page here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review