SD52 Budget process now underway, opening session of January 31st an information presentation/collection project

The path towards the annual financial planning for School District 52 began at the end of January, with the first of the Board of Education's Consultation sessions with those with an interest in Education in the region.

The opening event of January 31st, was more of an introductory session, featuring an extensive review of some of the elements towards Budget making, with School Administrators providing for a thirty one minute slideshow presentation towards those elements.

Among some of the elements for review was the introduction of the new strategic plan for the District.

click on above images to enlarge

The Full scope of the Strategic plan can be reviewed from the SD52 website.

As for the Budget preparation work, the state of enrolment for the district served as part of the narrative towards how the Board has to consider its budget projections.

Also noted was funding streams from the province, anticipated salary increases and other expenses that the Board will have to balance.

The multi year review observed of an anticipated deficit for this year of 200,000 dollars which will be the focus for the Board Trustees as the process moves forward.

As for those areas of note looking forward, the work required in years ahead for Trustees and administrators was outlined with revenues expected to continue to decline and costs increasing.

The introduction portion of the January 31st session on the Budget is available for review through the SD52 video page.

Towards the consultation with the public the engagements ahead included the following options through the next few months.

The focus for the Talking Circle of January 31st was as follows:

The breakout groups of the Talking Circle which followed the presentation were not included as part of the video review.  

However the findings from each of the four groups that were put together for the project have been released by SD52.  They are listed as ABC #1 Groups 1-4

Those comments and all the School Board's documentation on the Budget process from this page of the SD52 Financial overview.

The Survey noted by the District is now live and available for participation here. It asks ten questions of respondents toward how they view priorities and how the District should spend money towards education in the region.

The path ahead towards consultation on the way to the Budget creation is as follows.

All of the Sessions take place in the Booth Meeting Room at Hays Cove Circle (behind Lax Kxeen school) as well as through a Zoom link which you can access from the SD52 website.

With luck, the sessions will also be posted to the SD52 video archive for the review of those who may not be able to make the scheduled sessions.

More notes on Education in Prince Rupert can be reviewed from our archive page.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.