The Nanaimo-Ladysmith School District has passed its budget, with cuts to 15 support worker positions, including seven custodians and eight school maintenance staff.
Board Chair Steve Rae says it wasn’t an easy decision but they had to figure out a way to deal with a 4.5 million dollar shortfall.
Rae says three teaching positions were eliminated, but they expect to deal with that by not replacing retiring teachers.
School District 46 on the Sunshine Coast has also set its budget.
Chair Betty Baxter says after years of tough budgets this one was even tougher. The Board had to come up with around 800 thousand dollars in savings.
Baxter says the province’s mandate to cut administrative costs was the big reason.
Baxter says the District operates under a model where individual schools make the staffing decisions, and she says school allotments were cut, so there may be job losses. They’ve also cut back custodial staff hours.
