Approve 2026 Summer Learning Fees

Statement Watch

Thank you very much, Chair. It's a pleasure to be here this evening. Next slide, please. The Vancouver School District provides a summer learning program that has robust subscription every summer. Our program has stayed about constant for the last four years. We have just over 11,000 students that attend the summer learning program through a range of different types of programs. We offer courses that are funded by the Ministry of Education and Child Care. We have fee-based activity courses for students in grades one to seven. And we also have fee-based courses for students in grades 8 to 12. The fee-based courses for students in grades 1 to 7 permit a family, should they choose to send their child to summer learning for the entire day, to attend one ministry-funded course and one activity-based course, providing all-day programming. The students who come for the activity-based course for the all-day programming continue to receive educational supports in ELL, Indigenous education. or for students with disabilities and diverse abilities. Even though we don't receive funding from the Ministry to do that for the fee-based course, it's a service we provide. The fee-based courses in grades 8 to 12 are largely subscribed by international students or non-ordinarily resident students in British Columbia and would pay international fees, which I'll talk about in a moment. The reason that I'm here today is that we want to talk about a potential increase to these fee-based activity courses and international fees. Next slide, please. So the proposal that's presented today is to increase the grade one to seven fee-based activity course from $390 to $425. and also increase the non-resident student learning summer fee for completion courses. These are 80 hour courses, grades 10 to 12, where an international student received four credits upon completion towards a graduation program, increased the rate from $2,100 to $2,175, which represents approximately one eighth of a September to June international tuition fee payment, which is $17,000. The preview, review ELL courses are 40-hour courses. Again, would be for non-resident students and to increase the fee modestly from $1,050 to $1,090. Next slide, please. The rationale for these fee increases is that the ministry funding allocations, so the courses that are funded by the ministry, will not increase for the summer of 2026. That includes supplemental funding, which is outlined in the report that you received in the package. You can see the supplemental amounts that we apply for students who qualify for those. Those amounts will also remain fixed from 2025 to 2026. But more importantly, we've had a recent collective agreement settlement with the PCTF and includes general wage increases of 3% effective July 2025, July 1st, 2025.

and an additional 3% effective July 1st, 2026. The summer learning program is fully staffed by multiple Vancouver School Board employee groups, all who are expected to receive similar salary increases. Those collective agreements are not resolved, but there is a pattern across the province. We also have inflationary costs for supplies that impact the summer learning budget. The proposed fee increases align with summer learning fees charged by other districts in the Metro Vancouver area. I believe in the package that the range is from just under $400 to a high of $500. So we are within the range that our Metro partners charge for fee-based courses. The same is true for international education. We're well within that range as well. So the proposal that's in front of you then, for the trustees is the recommendation that the board approve the following 2026 summer learning fees. So that is a non-resident summer learning fee of $1,090 for preview, review and ELL courses. A non-resident summer learning fee of $2,175 for grade 10 to 12 completion courses and an elementary activity fee paying course increase to $425. At this time, I will take any questions.