On May 20, 2022, the Richmond Board of Education delivered a funding advocacy letter to the Honourable Teresa Wat.
Dear MLA Wat,
On behalf of the Richmond Board of Education, I am writing to request a meeting with you to discuss items of potential mutual interest, including our concerns over education funding.
The Board of Education appreciates the provincial support for K-12 education. However, the Ministry operating grants are neither adequate nor sustainable to support school districts in maintaining appropriate service levels in the classrooms and meet our students’ needs.
For the upcoming 2022/2023 school year, Richmond School District is facing a $3.9 million structural budget shortfall and has been forced to consider significant reductions to staffing across the District. This is following a $7.2 million budget shortfall in 2021/2022, which was addressed by operating budget reductions, including staffing reductions, and use of reserves.
The budget shortfalls are caused by a combination of chronic underfunding and the lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Similar to other school districts in the province, Richmond is also facing a number of unfunded cost pressures, including staff salary increments, employee benefit increases, costs of the new employment standard changes, and inflationary costs.
It would be our hope that as a member of the Official Opposition Party, you will advocate on behalf of the students and families of the Richmond School District. We look forward to your response and would welcome an opportunity to speak with you further.
Sincerely,
Sandra Nixon, Chairperson
On Behalf of the Board of Education (Richmond)