Trustees and SD73 officials hope persistent advocacy will influence the province to reconsider school funding in hope of staving off future budget deficits.
“We will continue to look at provincial advocacy and continuing the conversation with our MLAs, our provincial partners… around how funding is allocated right now,” board chair Heather Grieve said at a recent media call with reporters.
The meeting came the day after trustees approved the $255.96 million budget for the 2026–2027 school year. The amount is a decrease of about $2.5 million from the previous school year and multi-year projections suggest a continued downward pressure and return to a potential budget deficit by the 2027–2028 term, something administrators managed to avoid this school year after facing a deficit the year before.
About 94 percent of SD73’s operating revenue comes from student enrollment and the district is experiencing a gradual flattening or decline, with a drop of about 206 students causing a loss of $1.37 million in revenue.
Grieve pointed out the problem is not strictly a Kamloops-Thompson School District one, with only two of the province’s 60 public school districts showing an enrollment increase. As a result, she believes something needs to change. Even flexibility within districts to use money in different area would help, she said.
“That has been a point of advocacy on a provincial level from a B.C. School Trustees Association to talk about the fact that all dollars are welcomed but when they come with very specific criteria on how they can be spent, it limits our ability to meet local district needs,” said Grieve.
Trustees would like to see an increase in per-student funding or adjustments in international and online student funding, she said.
As is the district worked with what it had in order to meet key the key wants and needs the public and partner groups identified during a lengthy consultation process. Superintendent Mike St. John said inclusion, mental health, and literacy were chief among them, and the budget reflects that.
Additional staff — including hiring more school counsellors — were hired in order to meet those needs, he said. This was done by looking at the data and taking steps to address any issues. For example, literacy rates in SD73 had dropped 20 points in the last five years. That’s within provincial averages, but still significant.
“We’re going to be focusing on literacy and inclusion this year through our curriculum department, through early years supports, and items added into the budget this year to see the impact they have,” said St. John.
He likened the next school year as a “pressure test” to see what works and what doesn’t.
Secretary treasurer Kim Morris said the budget will be amended in time, as spring staffing takes place, positions are filled, and student enrolment is calculated in September.
“Budget is an ongoing cycle. We know it’s not one and done,” she said. “We’ll finish off our staffing, we’ll watch for enrolment and we’ll watch our student results and we’ll make adjustments from there as we head towards our February amendment.”
In B.C. school districts are legally required to update financial plans in February based on autumn enrollment date, confirmed funding grants, and exact staffing costs.