An $8.4-million budget shortfall means that the Vancouver School Board is slashing administrative jobs and giving kids a two-week spring break once again next year.
At a meeting Wednesday night, the VSB voted for a second year in a row to close schools for five additional days in March next year and another five days throughout the year in an effort to address funding problems.
"That's a tough [decision] because it does put pressure on families because of childcare or taking time off work," VSB Chair Patti Bacchus told CTV News.
"We felt that, given the options, it was probably the better one to go with."
The board says that the schedule will save about $1.2 million for the year.
Board members have already voted to eliminate a total of 54.75 full-time equivalent positions in an attempt to balance their budget. Those positions are all administrative, and include eight managers.
"We've worked hard with our staff to try to keep the impact away from classrooms," Bacchus said.
But the school district did issue layoff notices on Monday to 187 teachers, effective at the end of the school year. The VSB says that these job losses are not linked to budget problems, but are a result of declining enrolment and a lack of retiring teachers.
Budget concerns from the school board have become an annual rite of spring in Vancouver, and Bacchus says that the 2012-2013 school year is likely to be no different. She estimates the likely shortfall at about $10 million.
"We cannot keep operating the school system this way. It's critical that we work with the province to get a reinvestment so we're not back at the drawing board next year," she said.
Teachers complain that they're feeling the heat from the yearly cutbacks.
"It's had a negative impact in all areas in the district, but particularly on the working and learning conditions of teachers and students," said Debbie Pawluk, president of the Vancouver Secondary Teachers' Association.
She places the blame squarely with the B.C. government.
"We need ongoing sustainable funding from the ministry of education. We simply are not getting enough funding," she said.
Premier Christy Clark says the education budget is "really tight" and the government is constrained by ongoing collective bargaining negotiations with teachers and other unions connected to the school system.
But she told reporters that Education Minister George Abbott is trying to rebuild the government's troubled relationship with teachers and "working hard with all the stakeholders in education."
Last year, a heated dispute with the VSB over "unacceptable" cuts led former education minister Margaret MacDiarmid to call in the province's comptroller general to review the school board's books.
