B.C. teachers face layoffs in funding crunch

The Vancouver and Prince George school boards are considering widespread layoffs or school closures because of funding shortfalls, CBC News has learned.

In Vancouver, 800 teachers with less than five years of seniority were sent letters on Tuesday morning advising them of possible layoffs next year.

The letters follow a board meeting Monday night at which trustees were told the district could be facing a shortfall of $17.5 million to $36.3 million in the 2010/2011 school year.

That could mean the district will need millions of dollars to cover everything from salary and benefit increases to extra Medical Services Plan costs or make substantial layoffs.

The letters sent to the teachers are not layoff notices but, under the terms of the teachers' collective agreement, have to be sent out any time lay-offs are even being considered.

The affected teachers then have an opportunity to update their files with the district's human resources department.

Board chair blames government

In a statement released Tuesday morning, Vancouver School Board chairperson Patti Bacchus blamed the increasing costs on provincial government policies.

"The district has increased costs coming due to decisions made at the provincial level," said Bacchus. "We believe the provincial government has an obligation to fund those costs to ensure we are able to provide adequate staffing and resource levels to meet the needs of our students.

"I got into this role because I believe passionately, even for my own kids, the kind of society we have is majorly affected by the public education we have," said Bacchus.

"We've already had to cut over $47 million in accumulated annual spending since the beginning of 2002/03, and further reductions will make it increasingly difficult to meet the learning needs of our students," she said.

Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid responded that the B.C. Liberal government has continuously increased school funding, but declining enrolment has contributed to the Vancouver School Board's problems.

"As far as the government goes, we have increased education funding year after year and Vancouver's no different than the rest. One of the pressures that's certainly there in Vancouver, like the rest of the province, is that they have declining enrolment," she said.

The minister said the government doesn't want to run deficits that students would have to pay off later in life when they become taxpayers.

"We don't want to load those deficits up on basically these very students we're talking about. They are the ones who will have to pay these deficits back," she said.

Prince George also eyes closures

Further north in central B.C., the Prince George School District is expected to recommend school closures and job cuts at an emergency meeting on Tuesday night.

The school district has to cut about $7 million from its budget, according to the vice-chairperson of the school board, Lois Boone.

"I think it's fair to say we can't achieve the reductions required without school closures," she said. "I'm anticipating there will be a fair number of schools proposed for closure. There will be school closures."   

The districts are expected to balance their budgets in late April, so if there are layoffs, teachers won't be notified until at least May.

Provincial funding for school districts is linked to enrolment, which has been steadily declining in both districts in recent years.

The Prince George School District has already closed 14 schools in recent years because of funding cuts as a result of declining enrolment. That decline was brought on by families moving away because of job losses in region, particularly in the forestry industry.