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The board of the Surrey School District has approved a budget for 2024/2025 of over $1.1 billion, but will still need to make some cuts to services.
Budget chair trustee Terry Allen said the cuts will be in areas that are not central to the Ministry of Education’s annual operating grants, which are based on the number of students enrolled.
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For example, the board will reduce the number of schools offering the StrongStart program from 25 to 23 and will no longer provide bus services for students in the Intensive Literacy Program.
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StrongStart is a free drop-in program for parents and guardians to bring their children aged from newborn to five to school to take part in early learning experiences.
Allen said, as part of the cuts, that the Montessori program at Latimer Road Elementary will be relocated and the French Immersion division at one elementary school will be reduced.
A hiring freeze will take effect for district office positions that do not support core educational objectives, while teaching staff in positions like career facilitators, transitions teachers and technology support teachers will move to classroom positions.
The district will see the amount of money received from the Ministry of Education rise from $944 million to $1.05 billion. The total budget amount including all sources of revenue will be $1.128 billion for the 2024/2025 school year.
The budget shows a drop of almost $3.4 million in transportation and housing expenses.
The Ministry of Education pays the school district a certain amount based on the number of students.
In the 2019-2020 school year there were 72,161 students enrolled, compared to 75,067 in the 2023/2024 school year. Surrey Schools has 103 elementary schools, 21 secondary schools and five student learning centres.
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