Faced with a budget shortfall of $3.38 million, the Delta Board of Education has approved its 2016-17 budget, which included cuts to several programs.
Service reductions include the elimination of 12 FTE (full-time equivalent) education assistant positions, eight FTE teaching and library positions, and reduction in supply and service budgets at schools as well as the district office.
A proposed reduction of noon-hour supervision assistants at secondary schools was amended following a motion from Trustee Val Windsor. One position will be cut from each of Delta's four secondary schools, as opposed to a proposed cut to one position at each school.
Although the district received a funding increase for 2016-17 of $60 per pupil from the B.C. Ministry of Education, cuts were necessary to cover increased administration and staffing costs, and a shortfall of $1.5 million carried forward from 2015-16, said Jen Hill, communications and marketing manager for the Delta School District, in a release.
The cuts, approved at Tuesday's board meeting, trim roughly $2.1 million from the budget. The district also hopes to increase net revenue from its International Student and Continuing Education programs by roughly $500,000, and will use $775,000 in reserve funding to cover the rest of the shortfall.
The Delta School District's annual budget totals more than $160 million.