As the dust settles on the closure of Mclean Elementary and the movement of the Rossland senior students down to Trail, it is becoming very clear on the gigantic financial screw up SD20 made. The mess is so big that SD20 is now having to cut staff and are considering charging students for bussing because of the pending funding shortfall for next year. A large portion of this deficit is a direct result of closing Mclean and moving the senior students to Trail.
According to an article on the RosslandNews, 36 students left SD20 and are now attending the Seven Summits Centre, which in all accounts was created in frustration with the movement of the senior grades to Trail.
According to the BC government fact sheet on SD20, the per student funding for 2013-14 in SD20 was $9,214
With 36 students gone, that is a decrease in funding of $331,704.
Add to that many elementary students that moved to the French school in frustration and it is probably closer to a $400,000 decrease in revenue.
According to SD20 board chair Darrel Ganzert, who said in a meeting in the RSS gym last year, the yearly savings is about $140,00 (the cost of two guidance councillors is exactly what he said).
So congrats SD20, you are now saving $140,000 per year.
- You spent over $500,000 renovating the RSS building
- The decreased enrolment gives you a loss of $331,704 per student funding per year.
- You sold Mclean Elementary for 1 million, so there is no turning back now.
- Over 300 kids attended Mclean last year, now the school is used for less then 60. (How the French school can afford that I have now idea...But thats a differnet story....)
This is a complete mess. Your lack of vision is costing every student in SD20 what remaining resource we have.
I agree...so frustrating!!!!
Did you hear the interview with Lorraine Manning on CBC radio one Kelowna yesterday morning? She certainly sounded unimpressed with the questions about the RSS closure perhaps not being the right move, was very unclear about exact numbers and figures in terms of the cost savings and how many kids went where, and suggested very strongly that in the future we could see our last school in Rossland close as well. Apparently with some funding change they are again in a defecit of $700,000 and need to make this cost up, so more cuts will need to be made from somewhere...
The board's actions were a classic case of applying a structured, logic-based solution (in this case, a simple budget spreadsheet) to what - in hindsight for some - was a complex problem, where people's hearts, creativity and different perspectives were deemed 'not as important' as the simple math of the spreadsheet.
"Culture eats strategy and tactics for lunch."
In this case, SD 20 is now eating the lunch they themselves served up, and I don't think it tastes that good.
Looking forward, different processes will be needed for such decisions. And a new appreciation for how people will act if cornered.
When I think of all that Rossland lost, and for the now apparent results? Utterly dismal.
It would be great if people wrote letters to SD20 and the local papers. The board needs to know this isn't getting ignored and that they better not dare take anything else away from Rossland.
It's also crap that they put a clause in the sale of MacLean to the Francophone school board that space in MacLean cannot be leased to any independent schools - not even the gym. So even though there's lots of room, and Seven Summits Centre for Learning is growing and could soon need more space, they can't rent it. Ever.
I agree with you Shelley, this needs to be known.
I am a optimistic person, however, my fear is that this deficit is only going to strengthen SD 20's resolve to cut more in Rossland. Which is what I think many of the board members wanted from the beginning, not in a malicious way, but in an effort to save the schools in the areas they represent.
Any way you slice this, it is a horrible miss management of resources, a complete lack of component decision making, absolutely no effort to find creative solutions, and perhaps the worse aspect is it now effects all kids in SD 20.
For example, they could have left K - 3 at Mclean and leased space the The French school, thus creating an additional cash flow.
Let’s also not ignore the provincial government role in this. The funding for public schools in BC is among the worst in the country. The funding formula favours high density cites and puts rural areas at a real disadvantage.
EXACTLY. As much as I resent the SD20 board for their decisions, ultimately the culprit is this provincial gov't. Education funding is appalling, and SD20 is definitely getting the shaft as they don't fit well into the funding formula. Other districts in this area get a fair bit more, and even they are struggling.
Actually, this all falls perfectly into the Liberal plan for education in the province: cut school funding and turn more people to find alternatives to public schools, which further hurts the public schools, which drives more people to alternatives...
As a side note, I was under the impression that MacLean was being leased to the french school, not that it had been sold, although that had always been the plan when they were proposing to close it.
Does anyone have a link for the Daybreak interview in which Lorraine Manning was interviewed?
I heard the interview with Jill Spearn the following day- thought she could have hit on more of the reasons it's important for kids to go to school in their own community, She mentioned the bussing (which was a key point), but the general gist of the other reasons she stated was "Rossland and Trail are different types of communities". While that may be true there was a slew of really excellent reasons brought forward at the SD20 hearings last year to keep students in their own communities. They ranged from participation in extracurricular activities to economic impact on local businesses- and a lot in between. However, I was glad she was able to articulate the general disappointment with the decision- and did so in a high minded fashion, gotta give her credit for having the guts to speak out against her employer!
Does anyone else see some similarities with the Trail dominated SD20 Board of Trustees' handling of budget shortfalls/school closures and the City of Trail's approach to the recreation agreement with outlying communities (faltering badly)?
Perhaps we could achieve more collaborative solutions if there was more equitable representation amongst the communities on some of these regional issues.
It's also very, very important for people to vote during the next trustee election. According to my research, the elections are on 3-year cycles with the last taking place November 2011. Hello, November! I'm under the impression voter turn-out for these things is tragically low, so if Rosslanders can rally some passion (and I know they can), encouraging friends and family in other SD20 communities to hit the ballots will make a huge impact.
For those not aware of this and interested, there will be a PUBLIC INPUT PERIOD immediatley following the Public presentation of the Superintendant's proposed balanced budget 2014/2015.
Wednesday, April 16th, 2014 6:30 pm
Kootenay-Columbia Learning Centre -Trail Campus - Gymnasium
My daughter, grade 1, broke and dislocated her elbow playing on the outside jungle gym structure SD20 has refused to replace for the younger kids. She was rushed in for emergency surgery Tuesday after I was called from work to pick her up from school. To say they have failed is a Gross understatement!!
my son broke his arm last spring on it also.
When a child is at school, they're supposed to be safe. Not forced to play a structure to old for them because that's all they have!
If we think they care, we are fooling ourselves. Soon RSS will be to costly to run.. Should be gone within 5 years.
Their track record certainly seems to make it look that way @Billy.
They (SD 20) do not have an easy job (decreasing funding and lower enrolment) and as @milty said, when faced with a multi dimensional problem they applied a way too simplistic decision making process. What really bothers me is it was not even close to the right decision for all stake holders in SD 20. This decision has enormous implications from Castlegar to Fruitvale and there has been zero accountability for this. If this had been a corporation the board would have fired the management by now.
SD 20 made a choice that they had good reason to know would not work and at the end of the day ended up costing SD 20 almost 1 million dollars, just in an effort to save $140,000 per year. Yes SD 20 earned 1 million from the sale of McLean, however, 750K of that is being held by the province to be applied to future capital projects (like a new school). SD 20 is currently trying desperately to get that money released.
SD 20 will tell you it was the only solution, but clearly doing nothing would have been better for all kids in SD 20.
I am from Rossland and would love to keep k-12 here, however, had SD 20 presented a logical solution that actually made financial sense for all kids in SD 20 I would have had much more understanding.
Is there any way back? K-12 in a new facility in Rossland?
No way my kids are going to school in Trail and having lead become the main part of their diet. If RSS closes, I will probably move to Nelson or back to Vancouver.
Bonjour! Well first off you have to realize that the "Big Picture" does not include the actual education of your children. No it involves something more sinister. Money for education? No we need a frigging pipeline so we can destroy more of our beautiful planet! Screw people! Let companies like FORTIS and ICBC SCREW YOU till the cows come home. The government needs a wake up call. There is not one person that I have seen yet that really champions our childrens future...Our sustainable future. Just a bunch of thugs run by corporate and drug dealers ( being pharma and our food supply)
Ok enough rant for the day !
BACK TO WORK!!!!
Whatever happened to the idea of a Community School District? We could then have K-12 back in Rossland where it belongs!
As a Community we Need K-12 before we Need anything else. If need be this is where All of our financial resources need to be focused Firstly.... After this is accomplished we can focus on other projects... whatever they may be.