Central Okanagan Public Schools is facing a $5.2 million budget shortfall for the 2025-26 school year.
The projected deficit comes on the heels of a $4.4 million shortfall in the current school year budget, and uncertainty about the short-term future funding capabilities of the provincial government in light of current economic issues, such as tariffs imposed by the U.S.
Kevin Kaardal, Central Okanagan Public Schools superintendent/CEO, said the school district has been told by the Ministry of Education and Childcare to expect a 1.12 per cent increase in its per pupil funding ratio, but noted one per cent of that is already committed to contractual obligations such as the labour agreement with teachers negotiated by the province.
"That leaves .12 per cent to deal with a complexity of issues facing the school district," Kaardal said, noting the costs of purchasing portables to address school overcrowding, school bus transportation, concerning high levels of staff absence due to wellness issues, rising costs of staff benefits and increased insurance and utility costs due to inflation.
The basic allocation per-student funding level in 2024-25 was $8,915 for standard, continuing education and alternate schools, and $7,200 for online learning.
The allocation increase for 2025-26 amounts to about $100 per student.
Kaardal addressed those and other issues facing the school district at the finance and planning committee meeting on Wednesday, saying administrative staff are combing through all aspects of the budget to find potential cost-saving measures.
Those findings will be reported to the next committee meeting on April 30 for further discussion.
While Kaardal acknowledged making up $5.2 million in spending will present challenges, he is confident it won't result in any job losses or essential service cuts in school classrooms.
"I think what we will see is some people's jobs perhaps changing, where they go from an administrative position to doing some teaching as well so we maintain the bodies in place to provide the supports that are necessary, but we are still working through that," he said.
Despite the budget cut, Kaardal said the school district is still looking at additional grounds staff to support school grounds maintenance. While programs with targeted funding such as childcare and food support programs won't be directly impacted.
Trustee Lee-Ann Tiede, chair of the finance and planning committee, noted that the Central Okanagan is not in the same dire situation the the Kamloops School District is facing.
The budget for that school district, with an enrolment of 16,600 students serving Kamloops and the Thompson rural area, is facing a $5.79 million budget shortfall for the 2025-26 year, with a preliminary budget indicating that 79 full-time-equivalent positions could be eliminated, with the district's superintendent attributing the budget shortfall to flattening enrolment and inflationary pressures.
In the Central Okanagan, Kaardal said enrolment is conservatively estimated at about 150 students after last year's projections fell short by 100 fewer students than were expected.
While rising enrolment causes student capacity pressures on local schools like Mount Boucherie Secondary and 脡cole 琉璃神社 Secondary, it also increases the per-pupil funding allocation for school districts.
Kaardal said while school districts advocate for more money to cover inflationary costs, the provincial government also faces those same fiscal realities in challenging economic times, leaving Victoria unable to simply cover all the rising costs of public education.
Kaardal outlined several cost challenges facing the school district for the 2025-26 school year: increased teaching staff resulting from anticipated student growth and classroom complexity, additional teaching and support staff to support students with diverse abilities, expected incremental wage grid increases for staff, increased benefit premiums from CPP and EI to extended health not fully funded by the education ministry, increase to teacher illness costs and additional bus route to support rider growth.
In response, Kaardal's budget report listed considerations to balance the budget such as:
鈥� Address complexity in classrooms by requesting additional funding from the Classroom Enhancement Fund
鈥� Review school-based administrative structure allocations to ensure efficiency and prioritize funding for direct student services
鈥� Strategic restructuring of district-funded consultants and curricular leaders/department heads
鈥� Through attrition, reduce senior staff
鈥� Through collaboration and data analysis, continue to focus on employee wellness in the hope the district will see illness costs return to pre-pandemic levels
Other public education stakeholders were given an opportunity at the committee meeting to express their viewpoints on the fiscal reality the school district is facing.
Nicola Baker, president of the Central Okanagan Parent Council, said she appreciates the school district's position to "keep dollars in the classroom" but noted the reports they receive of stress levels teachers face in the classroom and a backlog of student special needs assessments remain a concern.
Susan Bauhart, president of the Central Okanagan Teachers Association, said she is hearing that individual school budgets have been frozen, which could impact activities such as planned field trips.
Kaardal responded principals have been informed to be conservative in non-essential costs, but where funding is deemed essential administrative staff will work together to make all essential activities be carried out.
He noted while funding caution is in place, any surplus savings at the end of the year will actually apply to the 2026-27 budget.
"That is just being responsible from a financial planning standpoint, being prudent to look ahead," Kaardal added.
George York, vice-president of CUPE local 3523 representing school district operational staff, suggested the school district's focus on staff wellness to pre-pandemic levels doesn't reflect the reality that working people no longer come to work sick, but will stay home.
"That isn't going to change," York said.
He also suggested the school district may see some fuel savings in the elimination of the carbon tax.
"There will be some relief with the carbon tax removed but the (U.S.) tariffs will increase other costs," he said, noting economic uncertainty imposed globally by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff policies also affect the stress levels of employees who face rising household costs.
"That uncertainty contributes to added pressures in many different ways," Kaardal added.
