Do you want services or stuff?
While a bit simplistic, at a recent School District #83 Town Hall meeting, it could be boiled down to this message.
As in, do you want to keep schools, specifically those with low enrolments, open but cut programs to students – things like music, library time, counselling, literacy interventions?
Or would you rather have fewer schools open, but keep those services?
As Superintendent Glenn Borthistle pointed out, budgets are about choices. If you spend money in one place, you must cut from another. In the case of this school district, there isn’t the money for both.
With declining enrolment (schools are funded, for the most part, on a per-pupil basis) and after millions in cuts over the last few years, the bleeding isn’t stopping. Roughly another $1.5 million will need to be trimmed out of the School District #83 budget for the coming year.
No one likes to close a school or can deny the ripple effect that closing one can have on a community. Of course, the case of Silver Creek Elementary is the prime example in this area. With enrolment sitting at 43 students, the school is being eyed again for closure. School trustees voted to keep the school open last year, against all economic arguments, but it seems it’s becoming increasingly hard to justify.
A closure would impact families – kids would spend more time on busses and lose the smaller school atmosphere. It would also impact the area. The loss of a school makes the area less desirable for families to live and harder to attract new residents. This can spin-off into other closures. The Silver Creek library is also at risk, other infrastructure can decline and the sense of community a school hub creates becomes eroded.
But, in my view, the message of the majority of parents in the school district was heavily weighted in favour of spending money on the service side, rather than the “stuff.” And this means kids attend schools that have those programs, rather than go to a school where they have been wiped away.
(Another interesting observation was that the district place less emphasis on spending for new technology and instead, focus on the basics of literacy, mathematics and social skills.)
While this can apply across the board, in the case of Silver Creek, the option of amalgamating with Salmon Arm West Elementary, certainly seemed more palatable than last year’s motion, which indicated the Silver Creek students would move to Hillcrest Elementary. Still, some residents wanted to see the 85 Salmon Arm West students shifted to Silver Creek instead of the other way around.
It’s unfortunate that the B.C. government is not placing enough of a priority on education and that these choices have to be made. But that’s a whole other column.
These are tough decisions. It’s time for the school board to make them. As was pointed out, the status quo is not an option.