School Board hopes to balance Continuing Education budget

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It appears you will still have a chance to take classes through the Vancouver School District‘s Continuing Education Program this fall.

The school board wants the courses, mostly aimed at adults, reviewed to make them sustainable. Board Chair Patti Bacchus says staff is being asked to find adjustments that can be made to offset a $100,000 budget shortfall.
        
“They will be reporting back to us by the end of June with their plan and with a look to whether it means increasing prices, or improving the marketing, improving the website, offering fewer courses, but the ones we know are very popular,” suggests Bacchus.

She adds right now they have an extensive variety of offerings.

“They encompass everything from flower arranging, jewellery making, woodworking, and some certificates for other purposes, and they’re very popular it turns out with the public.”

Still, Bacchus admits there are a few concerns.

“We know thousands of people sign up for them each year, but over time, we have run into more competition out there in the market. There are more organizations, and private associations, private businesses providing options, and of course, online courses are becoming popular, so we have seen some declines.”

NPA trustee Ken Denike says changes are overdue.

“Time to go with social media, it’s time to do things in marketing. I mean let’s face it, if you ran a campaign, even an election campaign the way they run [these programs] , you wouldn’t get elected,” believes Denike.

Sophia Woo was also among three skeptical NPA trustees behind a failed motion calling for money to be included in next years operating budget to keep the courses going.

“It’s almost unrealistic for us to reach a balanced budget, with zero operating costs, with the initial time frame,” explains Woo, pointing to the fact the review will take two months to complete, making it difficult to implement changes in time for the fall.

Vision and COPE trustees voted against setting aside funds to cover the deficit, citing a desire to wait for the recommendations from staff.

Denike says it’s likely the money will be needed at some point. “Recognize that there’s going to be a loss for the next session, and so be it, and get on with it to have things prepared for the session after that.”

Bacchus believes Continuing Education should be self-sustaining through the course fees collected by the district.

“We don’t get funding for these programs, so if we’re to continue subsidizing them, it’s coming really out of our kindergarten to grade 12 budget.”