One of eight StrongStart programs will be cut in the next school year if the Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows School District adopts its proposed preliminary budget.
The free program for children up to five, which serves as an introduction to the school system and as preparation for kindergarten, has been suffering from long-term underfunding by the province, says school board chair Elaine Yamamoto. Which school’s program would be cut has not been decided yet.
Funding for the program from the Ministry of Education and Child Care has been unchanged since 2012/13. At the same time, explained Yamamoto, the Consumer Price Index has increased by 26 per cent, contributing to higher costs for salaries, benefits, and supplies for running the centres.
“Throughout our consultative budget process, the budget committee of the whole also took into consideration input from our partner groups and staff, as we navigate a structural deficit while working to best meet the needs of our students, staff, and community,” said Yamamoto.
Yamamoto said, the district has subsidized eight StrongStart programs at elementary schools: c̓əsqənelə, Davie Jones, morning and afternoon programs at Eric Langton, Fairview, Riverside Centre, Highland Park, and Webster’s Corners.
“Our board understands the importance of early learning opportunities and the role that StrongStart programs in particular can play in a student’s future educational success,” added Yamamoto.
Jason Franklin, president of CUPE local 703, acknowledged that the funding model hasn’t changed for the StrongStart programs and that districts have had to fund the shortfalls themselves. He said the district office has other priorities.
“But in this case, there’s a couple of brand new managers at $150,000 a pop, I mean that right there is them choosing to fund those positions instead of covering the shortfall for that one StrongStart centre,” he said.
If a StrongStart centre is eliminated in the school district it could possibly affect hundreds of children – around 460 children are enrolled in the program at Eric Langton Elementary alone.
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“Even though these aren’t students in our system yet, this program is pretty crucial for them and their transitioning into kindergarten,” said Franklin. “We have found as well that a lot of the new-to-Canada families take advantage of this as well because they don’t really know what the school system is about so this kind of gives them some tools and guidance into a system that is very foreign to them.”
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At the end of the day, though, he said, it’s where the districts choose to put their funding – it’s up to them to choose how they are going to fund programs and staffing.
“And, I guess, this is the direction that this district has chosen to take,” he said.
At the BC School Trustees Association annual general meeting this past weekend, the SD42 board, with two other boards, presented a motion asking the Ministry to increase funding for StrongStart programs. The motion noted districts have been subsidizing the centres themselves by taking from their operating fund budgets, which they called unfair and not sustainable. The motion, said Yamamoto, was passed unanimously by trustees from all 60 school districts.
Public feedback is now being sought by the Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows School Board on the proposed preliminary budget and the balancing proposals within.
Two StrongStart facilitators will be speaking at the budget committee of the whole on the proposed preliminary budget at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 24 at Thomas Haney Secondary, 23000 116 Ave., room 2032, the Suddaby Room. The meeting is open to the public.
A survey for public input on the proposed preliminary budget is open until noon on April 25, which can be found at: www.surveymonkey.com/r/2024-25-budget.
The board will make its final deliberations on the budget balancing proposals once it has reviewed all feedback, and the 2024/25 Preliminary Budget will be adopted at the May 1, 2024, public meeting of the board.