← Special Board Meeting April 7, 2026
With deep gratitude and respect, we are honored to be learning and unlearning on the ancestral and unceded lands of the Homacuyam, Squamish, Ocomayo, and TTsleil-Waututh. Tonight, our meeting is being broadcast live and the recordings will be available for viewing after the meeting ends. This board has a strong commitment to ethical conduct and it is our responsibility to ensure our meetings are conducted in a safe and respectful manner. As a Board of Education, it's important we model the behavior that we expect of students in our schools. Before we proceed, I'd like everyone to turn off their phones, please, so that we can focus on what's at hand. And I'll start with introductions. So staff and trustees are here in person at the Education Center in the boardroom. And I welcome Superintendent Helen McGregor, Secretary-Treasurer Flavia Coughlin, and my fellow trustees starting to my right. Please introduce yourself.
Lois Chan-Petley, Trustee. Preeti Freethko, Trustee.
Janet Fraser, Trustee. Sheher. Thank you very much. And we have regrets from Trustees Chen, Reddy, and Zeng this evening. Moving on to the agenda, Section 2, New Business, we have a presentation of the draft 2026-2027 financial plan, and I will ask our superintendent to introduce.
Thank you, Chair. Good evening, everyone, in person and online. Tonight, myself and Flavia Coghlan, Secretary-Treasurer, will be co-presenting the draft 2026-27 financial plan. A financial plan for a school district, and in this case, the second largest school district in British Columbia, is a complex task. Even though you are only hearing from the two of us, I want to acknowledge the efforts of all members of the senior team and all members of the budget team. for getting all of this information prepared for you this evening. Tonight, we are pleased to present a balanced operating budget for the 26-27 school year. This draft financial plan is informed by the VSB Education Plan, the priorities outlined in the Framework for Enhancing Student Learning report, and the key considerations that emerge from the financial plan engagement process to date. We will be getting to more specifics of these elements as we work through the presentation. This year, we are again presenting a multi-year financial plan which incorporates all funds. Trustees, we are asking you to hold any questions you might have until the end of the presentation this evening. For folks attending this meeting online, the draft 2026-27 financial plan report has been posted online where the agenda for this meeting is posted. was shared with trustees earlier this afternoon for those folks present in the boardroom we have provided you a printed copy we will be referring to page numbers or sections in the report as we present throughout this evening next slide actually had another slide along thank you our work is guided provincially by the policy framework that you can see on this slide The interconnection and alignment of school learning plans, operational plans with multi-year financial plans. The importance of alignment with the education plan and the engagement with rights holders and partners in the development of financial plans is important. Next slide.
The BC School Act provides the legislative framework for the preparation and the adoption of the district's budget. must be a balanced budget and it must be approved by board bylaw before june 30th of each year i'll talk more about this on the next slide to meet collective agreement obligations related to staffing timelines that have been negotiated with vsb labor partners the board will consider approval of the budget at the april 29th 2026 board meeting next slide
Continuing from my previous remarks, you can see the legislative framework of requirements of school boards under the BC School Act. At the April 29th, 2026 board meeting, the board will adopt the annual budget via a bylaw. Next slide.
Continuing with legislative framework, new legislation was added in 2025 related to Indigenous Education Councils as outlined in the BC School Act. Each board must establish an IEC, which we have done with the Humuquiam, the Skomish-Okemeo, and the TTsleil-Waututh Nation. The IEC also has a responsibility for approval of the Indigenous targeted funds, and we have another meeting this week with the IEC to continue this very important work. Next slide. I also mentioned earlier A board must approve a balanced budget. That is a requirement. This means that expenses are equal to revenues, which may also include the use of surplus funds. Next slide.
As previously mentioned, alignment of policy and legislation alongside the education plan directions are critical to a board's financial planning. The VSB's education plan is the North Star for our daily work. and for decisions made by the board. Page six of the document of the draft financial plan report includes links to the plan, which is grounded with a values statement, equity statement, and three main goal areas.
Next slide. On page six, you'll see the visual that's on the screen. The draft financial plan for 26-27 has been developed amidst a backdrop of economic uncertainty. as British Columbia navigates potential financial challenges and continued impact of change federal immigration policies that continue to impact student enrollment in the school district. Despite this, VSB remains committed to maintaining a comparable level of programs and services as provided in the previous school year, this year, 25-26. This draft financial plan prioritizes initiatives that align with the goals outlined in the education plan. ensuring that the VSB continues to support positive outcomes for students. Throughout this financial planning process, all spending has been meticulously reviewed to redirect resources to schools and classrooms, fostering inclusive learning environments. The plan responds to community calls for more direct support for student learning in their neighbourhood schools. by reallocating available funding resources resulting in additional student support workers or SSAs. This budget achieves these goals by reallocating positions from the district to schools and classrooms and reducing district level budgets, centering the needs of students while ensuring fiscal responsibility in challenging economic circumstances. Next slide. Our financial planning engagement began on January 12th, as you can see in the visual, when we opened written submissions by mail and email, the email being budget at vsb.bc.ca.
These written submissions have been shared weekly with trustees, and to date we've received 27 submissions. Engagement activities were designed in line with IAP2 best practices, offering multiple accessible ways for people to provide input. We engaged a broad range of voices, including inherent rights holders, formal stakeholder groups, students, families, staff, and the broader public. An interim engagement summary report was posted on our website and shared broadly at the end of February. That report will be updated to reflect perspectives shared since then and through the remaining engagement opportunities with a final summary provided ahead of the board's final consideration of the financial plan. timeline on this slide shows key engagement activities completed to date and what's still ahead across all engagement activities so far we've seen strong alignment on key priorities which i'll highlight on the next few slides next slide as mentioned written submissions through email and mail began to be accepted on january 12th VSB met as staff met with inherent rights holders and each formal stakeholder group in January, including unions, professional associations, the District Parent Advisory Council, DPAC, and the Vancouver District Student Council. A public survey seeking input was available from January 14th to February 2nd. A facilitated workshop on February 2nd brought groups together to explore shared priorities and practical considerations for the year ahead. Further input was provided through small group discussions at the Finance and Personnel Committee on February 11th. Next slide. Engagement with inherent rights holders included meetings and facilitated discussions with representatives from Hamakweem, Skomish-Okamayo, and TTsleil-Waututh Nation. Guidance is also provided through the formal Indigenous Education Council, which I noted earlier in the new legislation. which advises the board and district on improving Indigenous student outcomes, integrating Indigenous worldviews and perspectives, and the allocation and approval of targeted funds, grants, grant funding. This work is grounded in the respect for the local nations on whose territories our schools operate with a focus on local cultural content, histories, protocols, and languages. As noted earlier, we have an IEC meeting this week to continue the conversations with the inherent rights holders. They also have an additional opportunity should they wish to share directly with trustees at the committee of the whole meeting on April 13th. Next slide.
The slide talks about stakeholder group input.
You can see on the slide there are some priority areas that came to be that patterns that arose. So I'm going to talk about them briefly. There was talk about school-based staffing and capacity. Stakeholders emphasized staffing models that support students directly in schools with clear roles and sustainable workloads. The next category was student wellbeing, safety, and inclusive environments. Input highlighted the importance of belonging, mental health, and safe supportive school environments for students and staff alike. The third area was equity inclusion and access to supports. stakeholders emphasize equitable access to services specialized supports and responsive programming for diverse student needs the fourth area role aligned professional learning and collaboration there were consistent calls for practical role specific professional learning and opportunities for collaboration across schools and departments and the last area was technology and systems stakeholders noted the need for reliable modern technology and data systems to support effective learning and district operations next slide public survey so as mentioned our public budget survey input sorry input survey was open from january 14th through february 2nd with a focus on open-ended feedback about budget priorities 1,240 participants accessed the survey, with most identifying as parents, guardians, or caregivers of students attending VSB schools and programs, alongside students, staff, and members of the public. Survey input centers on school-based staffing, foundational learning, student well-being, and safe, supportive learning environments. Looking ahead as a reminder, A special public delegation meeting on April 15th provides an opportunity for members of the public to speak directly to trustees regarding the financial plan. And written submissions remain open until April 16th at 4 p.m. Input received since the interim report that was issued at the end of February that's posted on our website. But additional input will be reflected in the final engagement summary report ahead of the board's final financial. deliberations. So at this time, I would like to now pass things over to Secretary Treasurer Flavia Coughlin to work further through the financial planning document. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. In developing the draft financial plan for 2026-27, the overall goal was to maintain to the extent possible a comparable level of programs and services as provided in the current year. The development of the financial plan for 2026-27 included the development and approval of the 2025-26 amended annual budget, which was approved by the Board in February, the development and submission to the Ministry of Education and Child Care of three-year enrollment projections, which were shared with the Finance and Personnel Committee and the Board in February, the development of base budget,
which included revenue and expense estimates validated through a detailed budget process review, estimated enrollment driven changes to revenue and expenditures, estimated changes to employee salaries and benefits, estimated changes to services, supplies, utilities related to contractual or rate changes, and adjustments for one-time revenue or expenditures that were included in the prior year budget. We have also conducted a comprehensive review of all grants to ensure that the expenditures associated with those grants do not exceed the funding received.
In preparing the balanced budget, we have given consideration to addressing the structural deficit and ensuring that the structural deficit is not increased year over year. And the financial planning engagement priorities have informed this financial plan. Next slide, please.
Our enrollment projections and historic enrollment numbers are shown on this slide. And these are for school age and adult funded full-time equivalent students.
VSB estimates serving 51,859 students in the next academic year. This represents a decrease of 332 FTE students compared to the current year. The variance is primarily attributed to changes in federal immigration policies which have led to lower immigration levels. Enrollment will be closely monitored throughout the year and staffing levels may need to be adjusted to reflect the actual enrollment in our schools. Additional information about enrollment is available in the report starting on page 54. The Ministry of Education and Child Care used the enrollment projections provided by all school districts to calculate the preliminary operating grants that were announced on March 12th, 2026. Next slide, please.
The Ministry of Education and Child Care provides two types of grants to school districts, operating grants and special grants. The operating grant is summarized on this slide. Operating grants are allocated to school districts based on a multi-part formula, primarily based on student enrollment, with 73% of funds being allocated using a standard per student FTE amount.
The preliminary operating grants elements are summarized on slide and details are available on page 18 starting on page 18 of the report there are no changes in the per pupil rates from the current year to next year it is expected that labor summon funded will be received through an additional grant no additional funding has been provided by the ministry of education and child care to address inflationary cost pressures the vsb preliminary operating grant for 2026-27 is $589.51 million, and this grant will be amended in 2026-27 based on actual student enrollment reported in our schools.
Next slide, please.
This slide summarizes estimated special grant funding for the 2026-27 year compared to the grants received in the current year. The announced preliminary classroom enhancement fund allocation for teacher represents 100% of the funding received in the current year. Final allocations for 26-27 will be announced in December 2026 and will be based on actual additional teacher staffing needed to meet collective agreement requirements for non-enrolling ratios and class size composition as of September 30th, 2026 and estimated remedy payable for the year. Community Link funding remains unchanged, and the Learning Improvement Fund funding has increased slightly by $9,607 for 26-27. Labor settlement funding has not been announced by the Ministry of Education and Child Care. Our estimate is that the funding required to meet our labor settlement obligation in 2026-27 is 29.6 million, and this is included in our estimates. Feeding Futures funding was confirmed by the Ministry of Education as part of the operating grants on March 12th, 2026, but the National School Food Program has not been announced and an estimate based on student enrollment has been included in the draft financial plan. Next slide, please.
On this slide, we have summarized the revenue and expense for all funds and additional information can be found on page 16 of the report. For 26-27, a deficit of 1.63 million is budgeted for the capital fund. A deficit in the capital fund is permitted for the amount that amortization of tangible capital assets exceeds the amortization of deferred capital revenue. And in this year, that amount is 7.99 million. So the 1.63 million is a permitted deficit. Additional information about the capital fund is included in the report starting on page 42. Next slide, please.
On this slide, the bar graph depicts the revenue by source for all funds, and 88.8% of the revenue is estimated to be received from provincial grants, 2.19% of revenue from tuition. Rentals and leases contribute 1.08% of the revenue, and the balance of 7.92% is made up of amortization of deferred capital revenue, investment income, and other revenue. The pie charts displays the expense by type for all funds. For all funds combined, salaries and benefits represent 85.11% of total spending. Services and supplies represent 9.96%, and amortization of tangible capital assets represents 4.92%. Next slide, please.
In the next few slides, we will dive deeper into the operating budget.
included in this draft financial plan. On this slide, we have summarized the revenue and expense estimated for the operating fund. Detailed information about the changes incorporated in draft operating budget can be found from page 17 to page 31 of the report. For the operating budget, a balanced budget is included in this draft financial plan. Revenues are estimated to increase by 26.3 million in 2026-27 compared to the current year. The largest estimated funding increase relates to labor settlement funding, which is expected to total 29.63 million in 2026-27. This is partially offset by the estimated reduction of $5.15 million in tuition revenue related to lower projected international student enrollment. The estimated operating grant changes related to enrollment are summarized on page eight of the report.
For expenses, salaries and benefits are estimated to increase by 26.44 million. And details of the change drivers are included on pages 22, 23, and 24 of the report. Services and supplies costs are forecasted to be 7.21 million lower than budgeted in 25-26. Details for changes are included on page 25 of the report. The annual budget reflects the removal of one time cost budgets in for the current year, which totaled $7.36 million. Increases related to contractual rate changes totaling 0.61 million and proposed budget reductions for district level supplies and services budgets totaling 0.48 million. Next slide, please.
Starting on page 26 of the draft financial plan, you will find the operating budget highlights. The majority of revenues in the operating fund are estimated to be received from the government in the form of the operating grant from the Minister of Education and Childcare, other provincial grants and federal grants. That will amount to 92.81% of our revenue. The level of provincial funding consequently has a significant impact on the educational services and programs that can be offered by the VSB. Because the primary determinant of provincial funding is enrollment, variances between the forecasted enrollment and actual enrollment will affect the actual funding received by the district in 2026-27, and we will closely monitor actual enrollment throughout the year. Outside of provincial grants, international education and other tuition fees are the primary source of revenue, and they account for 5.55% of total revenue. The projected operating budget revenue for 26-27 is $680 million.
Next slide, please.
The projected operating expenditures total $680 million.
Salaries and benefits account for 91% of the operating budget expenditures, while services, supplies, and capital assets purchased represent 9%. With this, I'll pass it back to Superintendent McGregor. I apologize for my croaky voice trying to hold it together. I'd like to bring your attention to pages 26 to 31, which provide operating budget highlights, and we can move to the next slide in the areas that are on the screen. I'm going to share brief updates from each of these categories, but I do encourage you all to read the full sections and updates that are there. So if you move on to page 27, I have already spoken about Indigenous education and the change to the legislation and the important role that the IEC has to play. There's very specific information on this page. Remember that the IEC must approve the targeted funds and that's ongoing work with another meeting that's happening this week. If you move on to page 28, inclusive education. This year's budget is informed primarily by enrollment data and observed shifts in student support needs across the district. VSB is seeing an increase in the number of students reported in the level two funding category, which is similar across the province. And this is expected to continue into the next school year. At the same time, referral numbers for elementary self-contained programs remain low, reflecting changing patterns as more students are supported in their neighborhood schools. In response to these trends, the budget prioritizes investments that strengthen inclusive supports within neighborhood schools rather than operating small segregated programs with limited enrollment. I bring your attention to the bottom of page 28. The infographic shows that total inclusive education expenditures of 137.78 million funded from the operating fund exceed the supplemental funding received from the province by $43.2 million. I also want to note that additional inclusive education supports are provided through special purpose funds, especially the classroom enhancement fund and community link. If you can move on to page 29. International education. This was noted earlier. Recent changes to federal immigration policy are expected to result in a declining enrollment. of 298 FT students. My apologies. Between this school year and next. The budget allocations for International Ed program have been reduced to reflect the estimated lower enrollment.
A program review will be completed in 26 to ensure the long term sustainability of the International Education program. Just give me one moment and I'll come back.
hoping i would make it through all of my notes before the cough kicked in also on page 29 early learning and child care the district will continue to support early learning and child care on school sites within limited and in some cases time limited ministry funding resources will be prioritized to support demand for before and after school care maintain cost efficiencies and sustain essential district level oversight and coordination services staffing is funded through a combination of provincial grants and operating resources and is structured to align with available funding while advancing the district's education plan and board policy 22 child care services in district facilities you flip over onto page 30 the district remains committed to working collaboratively with current and future child care providers to support the delivery of high quality developmentally appropriate and educationally sound programs on school sites while continuing to monitor funding availability, service demand, and operational sustainability. Also on page 30, food services, VSB provides approximately 4,450 meals each day through various meal programs that support students facing food insecurity. They're listed in the document. I'm not going to read them all. You also heard that we have still not received the announcement of the National School Food Programming Grant, and we're awaiting that information to solidify our plans for next year. Our goal is to continue providing the services at the level they were this school year. If you move on to page 31, print shop operations, effective starting July 1st, 2026, the district will discontinue external printing services and transition the print shop to an internal only service model. This transition aligns print shop operations more closely with core district needs, reduces financial risk associated with variable external demand and contributes to ongoing operating costs containment.
This change will generate an estimated savings of 0.07 million. will allow for a simplified equipment replacement plan avoiding the need to replace a second copier and resulting in one-time capital cost avoidance of approximately 0.07 million the last item i wanted to highlight for you in this section of our report this evening is the vancouver project office or vpo as it's often noted this office is responsible for providing
professional project management services for major capital initiatives. You've heard reports here before, including seismic mitigation and complex infrastructure projects. Historically, the VPO's activities were focused exclusively on capital projects within the VSB and were funded entirely through the capital plan. In recent years, while no major capital projects have been approved by the province for VSB, The VPOs has expanded its role to provide project management services for major capital projects on behalf of other BS, sorry, other BC school districts that don't have the internal capacity to manage these projects. As a result, the district has revised its budgeting approach for the VPO to more accurately reflect the work performed. A portion of VPO staff salaries is now budgeted in the operating fund under other professionals, 0.8 million. with a corresponding increase in operating revenues to reflect cost recovery from participating districts. This change allows the district to retain highly qualified capital project staff, but also contributes to many smaller school districts across the province. And thank you, I will pass it back over to Secretary-Treasurer Coughlin. Thank you. Thank you. Next slide, please.
Starting on page 49 of the draft financial plan document, you will find the key risks to our estimates. These risks relate to revenue estimates, expense estimates, potential capital project over expenditure, mitigation of enterprise risk, and addressing the structural deficit. For revenue, it is important to highlight that the estimated grant revenue included in this plan is based on projected enrollment, which will be confirmed in September 2026. Another major revenue assumption is that all labor settlement costs and management salary increases will be funded by the Ministry of Education and Child Care as they have been funded in the past. For expense, salary and benefit estimates are based on average salaries and benefit rates for teachers and specific salaries for other employee groups. Variances in average teacher salaries will impact forecasted results and actual costs for substitutes may vary significantly from historical trends which are reflected in the draft financial plan. Changes in weather patterns may impact utilities and forecasted utilities costs and result in unanticipated expenditures. The staffing levels included in these estimates are based on projected student enrollment. Any material change to student enrollment or the distribution of students by school may impact the staffing levels required in 2026-27. It should also be noted that the necessary infrastructure investments, maintenance and upgrades are not funded as part of the ongoing budget, which means that the VSB has a structural deficit which must be addressed.
The only funding available to address risks that materialize within 2026-27 is the contingency established by the board. Currently, the balance of contingency for operating is 6.09 million for the operating fund and 3.72 million for local capital. Next slide, please.
Opportunities for engagement regarding the draft financial plan are noted on this slide. The Finance and Personnel Committee meeting, which is tomorrow, when trustees, inherent rights holders, and stakeholders can ask questions about the draft financial plan and share their views on the draft financial plan. The Committee of the Whole meeting on April 13th, when inherent rights holders and stakeholders are invited to present to the Board their views on the draft financial plan. A public delegation meeting on April 15th for a member of the public to present to the Board their views on the draft financial plan. Read and submissions via traditional mail or email will be accepted until 4 p.m. on April 16, 2026. Trustees will put forward motions to amend the draft financial plan at the April 20, 2026 special public board meeting. And finally, the board will consider the adoption of the 2026-27 financial plan at the April 29, 2026 public board meeting. Thank you, and we'll now be happy to answer any questions that trustees may have.
Thank you, Superintendent McGregor and Secretary Treasurer Coughlin and to all the staff who are here tonight and who have worked on this. Thank you. Our first question is from Trustee Friedko.
Thank you, staff. This is such a great. report over here and very user friendly to understand. I just want to bring your attention to page number 22 for staffing. The last paragraph, it says the enrollment of students with disabilities or diverse abilities continue to increase. So the SSA staff is budgeted to increase by 20 full time positions. However, if you see at the bottom, it says three full-time SSB support for two district secondary self-contained program is also being eliminated. Can you just explain this one, please?
Would that be for Allison Ogden or Allison? Thank you.
Through the chair, we are reallocating some funding used to support students to have more direct support for students in inclusive environments in schools. So in total it's an increase of 23 FTE for SSAs for the coming school year.
Follow up trustee.
So 23 in addition to what we already have, right? Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. And thank you also to everyone who's worked on putting this together for. For us to consider. On the same page, at the bottom of page 22, there's just the last paragraph. My understanding is that paragraph is enrollment driven changes. And then at the top of the next page, then that is staffing adjustments that are sort of more budget related than responsive to changes in the number of students. Is that a correct interpretation?
Would you mind saying that into your mic for everyone?
That is the correct interpretation, yes. And a follow up on that one. On the top paragraph on page 23, it talks about the measures being proposed to align staffing levels with available resources. So I'm my assumption is that if the number of Swiss workers is being reduced, that that's because the amount of funding for the. program has been reduced.
That is correct. The Swiss funding is getting reduced year over year, and it's a reflection of the federal priority with respect to immigration. We have included the information about the Swiss funding on page 21 under federal grants. So this grant is going to continue to decrease in future years and will continue to have to. adjust our staffing levels to reflect the requirements of this grant, which are now reduced.
Yeah, just to confirm, I think I heard you say that the per pupil rates are the same as last year. That's I that is correct. OK, thank you.
Trustee Ma. Yes, I have a question. On page 25 of 68, at the top where it says services and supply budgets for 2026-2027 have been reduced by $7.36 million to reflect one-time costs. Can you give me some examples of what types of services and supplies that would be, please? Thank you. So the summary that we have included in the table on the same page outlines the specific categories. The detail of all these categories is actually included with our financial statements for the year ended June 30th, 2025, and then in the amended budget. An example under services would be the legal costs that we had budgeted in the current year. as one-time costs that are being reversed for next year. Under supplies, we do have on an annual basis, a fairly large appropriation for school budget balances that are being brought forward year over year.
Great. On the same page, on page 25, just above the chart, it talks about software licensing and related costs to increase. Why are these costs?
That's a lot. Is it because we're using new software or converting? I know that we've introduced Copilot. Is part of that escalation part of that?
So software costs, licensing costs are an area that continues. The cost continues to increase. There are two major contracts that are up for renewal this year. One is the Microsoft contract, so that is all Microsoft products that are being used by VSB and all school districts in the province. This is a contract that is negotiated by focus that on behalf of all school districts. And the other one is the contract that we have with Oracle for our enterprise system, which is PeopleSoft.
Okay, I have more questions. I will have more questions as the days go on. But for now, I have a question about on page 29 of 68. At the bottom it says in 2026-2027 the team will consist of 1.0 FTE manager and 1.0 FTE support staff. Is that an increase or a decrease?
Could we defer to Maureen McCray-Stanger for that, Associate Superintendent?
Thank you to the Chair. Yes, there's going to be a restructuring to the early learning and child care team, and we are going to be supporting the work that they're doing within that envelope of the grant funding and continuing with the manager in a support staff position.
Sorry, just for clarification, that's continuing with the one FTE manager and the addition of one support staff?
Yes, we're going to have a support staff position in the manager position.
Thank you.
ahead trustee no okay so the 1.0 fte manager is continuing and the 1.0 fte support staff is new new okay before going back to trustee ma would anyone else like to speak no okay take it away susie trustee ma
on page 31 of 68. So this was discussed earlier in the presentation about discontinuing external printing services. So can you give me some examples of what types of external printing we're doing now? Thank you. Print Shop provides services to other school districts such as Surrey and Richmond for printing at times collective agreements or other specific jobs that they may have that require a printing to be done by a unionized shop.
Same page, third paragraph down from the top. a staffing adjustment of 1.0 FTE TRC position. So is that, what union is that?
That would be QB 15. It's technical resource C. Thank you. So on page 37 of 68 there's a a chart that's titled non enrolling ratios and I'm looking at the current column and the proposed 2026 2027 and I notice they are all the same except for learning assistance teachers where the ratio is different. And if you add the three. If you add learning assistance teachers, special education teachers, and ELL staffing, it works out to 471.81 FTE.
So in terms of how that translates into actual staffing, how much of a decrease is that in FTE?
So the ratio is actually improving allocations. Then it's increased. How much would that increase? Sorry.
So as this ratio ties to enrollment, the actual FTE is not going to be known until September 30th. This is just our current estimate because our enrollment has declined. It's estimated to decline year over year. At this point, the overall teacher staffing generated by this collective agreement ratio will be lower next year than it was this year.
We're going to go backwards to back to page 22 of 68 and the last paragraph on that page. It talks about. A reduction of 2.0 third line from the bottom of that page. A reduction of 2.0 FTE district learning services staff as well as a reallocation of teaching staff from three self contained programs. Can you tell me what those three self contained programs are? Allison Ogden. Yep. Through the chair. Those three self contained programs are the core program at Trudeau and the Excel programs at Franklin and Beaconsfield. All elementary.
It was Franklin, Beaconsfield and Trudeau. yes so trudeau is core communication regulation and franklin and beaconsfield are excel social emotional support um trustee frico did you have a follow-up of that specific question or was it something else okay we'll go to you then and we'll go back to um trustee ma after thank you chair
So my question is for page number 33. There is a couple of programs that I see has been discontinued. Is that because of the funding?
Yes, the provincial government has discontinued that funding.
Trustee Ma?
Going back to page 22 of 68, I seem to like that page tonight. Uhm, there's also a second line from the bottom. It says 3.0 FTE SSB support for two district secondary self contained programs. What are those two district secondary contained programs? Thank you. So social development. There's two actually located at Britannia and one at David Thompson. Two at Brit. One at David Thompson.
Thank you. Trustee Ma.
A question on page 23 of 68. Under salary and benefits expenses, if you go to the paragraph that's just above benefit costs, and it talks about the decrease of 1.5 days per teacher from the previous year, resulting in budget savings of 2.48 million. Is that? I know last year we talked about the attendance management program. Does this have anything to do with that? The decrease in number or the expectation of 12 replacement days? Superintendent? Yes, it does. And there'll be some more details coming to trustees later this week on that matter. Thank you.
Trustee Ma. You're going too fast.
Can you go to somebody else? Yeah, Trustee Fraser.
So thank you. In this section on, now I've lost my page because I was turning, early learning and childcare, it says, page 29, it says time limited ministry funding. Now, I don't see that as a special purpose fund. So is that within the operating budget itself? It is a special purpose fund. which provides $175,000 a year to school districts for staffing to support child care in school districts. So it is the early care and learning grant on the special purpose funds. And that grant has two more years on it, and then it's going to be discontinued. So that's on page 34. So it's on page. So it's in the bylaw that's attached to the report and it's page 12 of the bylaw.
It's schedule three, it's page 12, schedule 3A, and it's fourth column from the right side of the page, ECL early care and learning.
But I'm not seeing that in the tabulation that's within the budget document.
Unless it, oh, is that early childhood grants? Yes. It's a combination because there are a lot of tiny, tiny grants. So we listed it as early childhood.
And that is on page 34?
Correct. That is page 34, figure 15. Thank you very much. So it's the early childhood grants. That's what we label them there. And I know you said it, but can you tell me the time limit piece again? Two years, so 2026-27 and 2027-28. After that we don't. Have that grant anymore.
May I just quickly ask?
That same page trustee Fraser was referring to and back to that one FTE of support staff for early learning and childcare. which is page 29.
What's the dollar value for that one FTE, please? Maureen McRae Stanger.
Do you have that, Flavia?
Through the chair, it's including benefits, 97,590.
Thank you very much. Trustee Fraser, did you have another one?
Yes. When we had the most recent childcare report, my recollection is that there was a transition to cost neutrality for providing services to childcare providers and that at the time of the report, there was a subsidy of $450,000.
Is that number still the same this year or is that changing?
For childcare rental rates, so the transition to full cost recovery rental rates is happening over three years. So the subsidy is slowly being reduced. It is slightly lower in the current year. We just implemented a rate increase effective April 1, and another one is going to come April 1, 2027. But yes, we are about another two years out from full cost recovery.
we're going to go next one with trustee ma all right uh going to page 29 of 68 the reduction of staffing because of the international education program that's a huge decrease of staffing so the 11.8 fte teachers How many of those FTE are secondary and how many are elementary?
Or do we know?
Through the chair, I think that way.
Sorry, could you introduce yourself before so that people at home could know who's answering?
They don't recognize my voice. Yes, Petter De Silva, social superintendent, Vancouver. I think the way to look at that is that international funds they're not necessarily teachers they're allocated in secondary schools and blocks and those can be actually support instruction and they can also be to support students who come to our schools and we do have coordinating blocks and stuff like that so it's not really a correlation with individuals it's allocated generally in secondary schools through block allocation Thank you, and we'll ask Superintendent to also comment. And we're going to be working through that as we work through the school allocations as we work through this budget. So more specificity might come later. Thank you.
Okay, Trustee Richardson.
Thank you, Chair. There is a lot of material here to digest, and there are two figures that I'm searching for in going through it. One is the... The I think we're in year two of the screening specific three year funding that was offered.
Can someone point out where it is and I take it? Have we heard anything in terms of? The extension of that since it was announced by the ministers being K to three, it's now been introduced just as K and if it's. Probably just as important to go beyond K to three.
Maureen McCray-Stanger. Through the Chair, thank you for the question. So yes, the grant is a one-time grant. We can carry over unspent funds from this year. It is on page 34 in the chart. It's called the Professional Learning Grant, and that was what was assigned for the literacy screeners. We have not used all of that money this year. We will be carrying that into next year to continue the work, and we've been very cost-efficient in the training by doing much of it
uh through online sessions and using our uh supervision aids to support in classrooms while we release teachers to do it so we are on track to continue the training into next year uh with that current budget thank you trustee richardson and just the have we um been so bold as to determine uh i think in the introductory comments the suggestion was that there had been no uh there was no in the i think it was was it March 15th announcement, no inflationary adjustment to figures. Has our staff, given all the work that they're doing to prepare this document, estimated what that inflationary impact would be that we've had to absorb specifically? And it may be there. You're going to a page, so maybe it's there.
Secretary-Treasurer? so in services supplies it's very clearly outlined under contractual and rate changes on page 25 so that's 610 000 also you can see under benefit cost in individual benefits we have outlined the increases that are being absorbed so The employee benefit cost increase of $7.14 million, which is estimated for the upcoming year, that is not funded by the province. It's not like a small part of it. We're expecting to be funded through the collective agreement, the labor settlement funding. But a lot of the changes in rates for extended health and dental, those would not be covered through provincial funding. So those would be other inflationary costs that we had to absorb. And I'll go back to a question Trustee Ma asked earlier. Another example would be the increases to cost for software licensing. So that was another example of increased costs due to inflationary measures where we did not see any additional increases in funding.
Thank you. Trustee Friedko?
Thank you, Chair. My question is on page 47 for the 2026-2027 capital plan. It does mention that today the ministry has not approved any funding for any major capital projects. I believe the five highlighted over here are the ones we have submitted to the ministry.
We have submitted everything that is included in figure 31. The highlighting is simply to differentiate between new school submissions, additions and seismic mitigation. So everything that's on the list was submitted back in June. And the capital response letter that we received from the ministry does not include approval to proceed with any of the projects on this list.
You'll follow up? Yeah, go ahead. Okay. So the ministry has not approved anything, but they will be coming back with an answer or no?
The answer was no.
Trustee Richardson, did you have another or shall I go to Trustee Ma? Would you like to proceed?
Yes. So going back to page 22 of 68 and where we were told that in this budget there's going to be an increase of not just 20 FTE SSAs, but actually 23. I recall that last year at last year's budget meeting, we approved the addition of 38 FTE.
So is this.
Is this in addition to those 38 or is the assumption that they are included somehow?
Secretary, Treasurer.
So. I don't have the document in front of me, but I believe last year we had a two-part approval. One was 31 additional ongoing FTE and seven one-time. So the seven one-time are not continuing in the current year, but this 20 is in addition to the 31 that were ongoing included in the budget. So my math is 23 minus seven.
That would be correct.
Would anyone who hasn't spoken yet like to speak?
Trustee Fraser. Thank you, Chair. I'm curious about the annual facility grant. I'm on page 35 and I'm pleased to see that it's gone up. I think that's, you know, we should give acknowledgement when funding has been improved. Was there any information given about why the increase was what it is so the energy that's included in this report is an estimated AFG amount it has not been officially announced yet we are expecting that announcement to be made sometime this week and we anticipate the estimate will be this number I mean, the announcement will be the estimate, but you can't say until it actually is announced. That is correct.
Trustee Ma. OK, I think we have come to the end of our questions. Is there anything that has left of anything you'd like to ask before we move on?
Trustee Fraser, if we have additional questions, is it is we can do we wait to the committee do we send them to the superintendent the secretary treasurer how would it work if we have additional questions staff would appreciate receiving questions from trustees and we would answer them both at committees and to trustees to all trustees if we just receive any question from any trustee in writing before the meeting or between meetings
and through the chair if you send it to the sto office and cc the superintendent that's helpful we can track down answers thank you wonderful thank you um and thank you to everyone who is here tonight for answering all of our questions we appreciate that and i'm sure we'll have lots more for you so thank you in advance um i don't see any further questions so i our agenda is complete and If there's no objections from trustees, we'll adjourn at 6.05. We are adjourned. Thank you.