School District No. 46 may see a smaller number of trustees elected come November.
Trustees passed a motion at Tuesday's board meeting to investigate reducing the number of trustees from seven to five under an "elected at large" model. The move is an effort to reduce the school district's expenses. Board chair Silas White said the change could save $30,000 a year.
Trustees make about $13,000 a year and are able to claim expenses, which brings the total savings up to an estimated $30,000 with two fewer trustees.
The elected at large model would see community members vote for their favourite trustee, regardless of the area he or she hails from.
While some at the meeting were concerned the move may result in a board that is heavily weighted in one community, trustees suspect the votes to be evenly spread out as each individual community member would likely vote for someone from their area.
"The Sunshine Coast is very small, and even though we are from distinct areas, we should work as a whole," said trustee Lori Pratt, who presented the motion.
The school board plans to hold a public meeting on the proposed change sometime next month.
Appointments
Parents will now be represented at the various school board committees.
White told the audience at Tuesday's meeting that one parent representative will be present at each of the school board's committees to give input and feedback from a parental perspective.
"We have been talking for years about getting more public input on our committees," said White. "We opened the committees up to the public, but it didn't work. They are not showing up in droves, so instead I've appointed parent representatives to all of our committees."
Committees that will now have parent representation arethe policy committee, the education committee and the finance and facilities committee.
