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ay

March 3, 1991

CROSSING GUARD Bobbie Goodsell! at her intersection of Larson and Bewicke in North Van-
couver. She and her colleagues make the streets safer for school children three times a day.

ay

NEWS photo Stuart Davis

Rain or shine

ER

‘Reflections: 100 Years’

Heritage excerpt: 22

25¢

N. Van District 44
superintendent says
provincial block

funding inadequate

THE NORTH Vancouver

District 44 Schooi Board

(NVSB) will have to cut school programs and services if
the provincial education rxinistry does not increase the
level of funding allocated to District 44 this year, accord-
ing to the district’s school superintendent.

While he said he does not know
at this time the exact amount of
block funding the NVSB is :ched-
uled to receive for the July 199]
to June 1992 fiscal year, NVSB
superintendent Robin Brayne said
Victoria has only allocated a 3.75
per cent increase in block funding
for the province this year over last
year.

“*That’s 1.75 per cent below the
consumer price index so we know
our share will not be enough to
wover some programs and _ ser-
vices,’’ said Brayne. ‘‘We know
programs and services will have to
be cut if we do not receive ade-
quate funding.”

The average provincial block-
funding allocation is currently
$5,259 per student. The education
ministry said it will increase that
amount in the coming fiscal year
by 3.75 per cent.

But at $5,124 per student, the
NVSB’s current block-funding is
already below the provincial
average.

There are currently 16,036 stu-
dents enrolled in District 44
schools.

In a letter to Education Minister
Stan Hagen, NVSB_ chairman
Marg Jessup said the NVSB was
“dismayed at the level of financial
support you afforded.

“The board is of the view that
this announced amount is not
anywhere near adequate to meet
the increased costs it will face in
the next year and therefore there
must be a significant reduction in
the programs it provides to its
students,’* said Jessup.

Jessup said she wants Hagen to
reconsider his block-funding
allocation for the coming fiscal
year and to remove the ‘‘unfair
stringent allocation adjustment"’
the ministry introduced in the
1990-91 fiscal year.

Meanwhile the NVSB and the
North Vancouver Teachers"

By Surj Rattan
News Reporter

Association ratified a two-year
collective agreement this week that
gives North Vancouver teachers a
14 per cent wage increase during
the life of the contract.

Teachers’ salaries account for
67.2 per cent of the NVSB’s
$86,323,854 budget for the current
fiscal year.

Prior to the most recent con-
tract settlement, annual teachers’
salaries in District 44 ranged from
$21,170 up to $53,295 for a 195-
day work year.

And in West Vancuuver,
District 45 school superintendent
Doug Player said the WVSB is not
happy with the 3.75 per cent
block-funding increase, but he
added that he does not think the
board will have to cut programs
and services.

In January, the WVSB and the
West Vancouver Teachers’
Association ratified a two-year
collective agreement that provides
for a salary increase of 5.2 per
cent retroactive to July 1, 1990
with an additional two per cent
wage hike retroactive to Jan. 1,
1991. Salary increases in the se-
cond year of the contract will be
based on the average teachers’
salaries in the Vancouver metro-
politan area.

Player said total district
salaries, including those of teach-
ers, administrators and non-
teaching staff, represent 87 per
cent of the board’s current budget
of $30,544,361.

In the Jast fiscal year, the
WVSB received a per-pupil fund-
ing block of $5,420.40, which is
slighly higher than the $5,259
per-pupil provincial average.

There are currently 5,222 stu-
dents enrolled in District 45.

REACHING EVERY DOOR ON THE NORTH SHORE SINCE 1969