2015/16 Budget Process

School District No. 42 meets the learning needs of approximately 14,000 students of all ages in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows, and is defined by its determination to keep student learning and growth at the heart of all its decisions.

All decisions made by the Maple Ridge – Pitt Meadows School District are guided by its vision and core values, and are based on research and consultation. Similarly, the district’s initiatives and resources are all aligned to support its firm commitment to continuous improvement, teaching and learning, effective use of technology, building and sustaining community and partner group relationships, and designing effective and sustainable support systems.

Due to many cost pressures beyond its control, the Maple Ridge – Pitt Meadows School District faced an operating budget funding shortfall of $5.02 million dollars for the 2014/15 school year. The reasons for this shortfall included declining enrolment, the CUPE wage increase, increased costs for benefits, inflation, utilities rate increases, and the use of reserves to fund previous budget shortfalls. The implementation of reductions of this magnitude has led to financial and staffing challenges that created instability in the system.

For 2015/16 and 2016/17, the province tasked all school districts with finding administrative savings. For the Maple Ridge – Pitt Meadows School District, the administrative savings target set by the Ministry of Education and Child Care over two years is $1.34 million. Given this requirement for multi-year savings, this document contains proposed budget changes that will be implemented over two years.

The Proposed Preliminary Budget for 2015/16 and 2016/17 was presented to the board for information and the initiation of the public consultation process on April 8, 2015. Feedback was received at the Budget Committee of the Whole meeting on April 15, 2015, the Student Transportation meeting on April 22, 2015, an online student transportation survey from April 9 to April 24, 2015, and through written submissions. The budget balancing proposals included in this document reflect the feedback collected through the consultation process.