Only a handful of people came out to a public hearing Wednesday night to have their say on changing the number of trustees at the school district from seven to five. Without more comment from the public the current seven-trustee system will likely stay the same.
"In that case [if there is not more input] we would say we had our process and this is what people had to say and there doesn't seem to be a big appetite for change," said school board chair Silas White at the Feb. 23 public hearing in Sechelt.
Trustees are investigating varying the number of trustees for School District No. 46 in an effort to save approximately $30,000 in the district's annual budget.
"So that's not going to save the school district overnight and balance our budget and create a situation where we don't have to make any other cuts for our next budget, but at the same time, this board has certainly had to look at all areas to make cuts," added White. "We certainly had to look at budget lines where we're cutting items as small as $10,000 or $5,000 so it only makes sense for the board to look at this as well."
At the public hearing trustees noted there were four options they wanted input on from the public. One option would be to keep the status quo; one would be to move to a trustee at large model for seven trustees; or a trustee at large model for five trustees or to change the electoral areas for either seven or five trustees.
Silas explained that while currently trustees run and are voted in from specific areas, once they get to the board table they have to take an oath saying they will represent schools from all over the Sunshine Coast.
"That can create some tension when trustees are elected in individual communities and it's something we all have to deal with to make that balance of representing the people who vote for us, but also looking at the Sunshine Coast as a whole," White said.
The school board wants feedback on the possibility of changing the electoral areas, as currently some groupings don't make sense. For instance, the Sechelt Indian Government District (SIGD) is currently lumped in with rural areas D, E and F, which are nowhere near the SIGD in proximity.
The declining enrollment of students in SD46 was brought up by trustees as another possible reason for varying the number of trustees from seven to five.
The enrollment in schools on the Coast in the 2009/10 school year shows a drop of 1,308 students since 1997. Future enrollment is expected to decline by at least 200 more students.
If you would like to comment, written input on the matter will be accepted until March 18 at the board office in Gibsons. You can email comments to [email protected] or mail them to Colleen McPhedran at PO Box 220, Gibsons, B.C., V0N1V0. The full report is available on the school district website at www.sd46.bc.ca.
After March 18 trustees will go over comments and if a change is deemed necessary it will be forwarded to the Ministry of Education for possible approval.
