This movie has been screened too many times to count: The Delta school district is proposing a series of unpleasant cuts in order to offset a significant budget deficit that hangs ominously over the coming school year.
This movie, which has had more sequels than Friday the 13th, is back in theatres this month as school trustees consider lopping 16 full-time positions, in addition to other cuts, in an effort to deal with a deficit of almost $3.5 million.
It's easy, and perhaps natural, to draw a line between that deficit and where the money comes from, and then conclude Victoria isn't adequately funding public education here in Delta.
I will leave the overall issue of education funding for another day, but when you look at the numbers in regards to the current predicament, you quickly see how enrollment decline is the chief culprit.
The district stands to receive about $8,600 from Victoria for every student that shows up in a Delta classroom this September, but with 320 fewer expected, that translates into $2.75 million less coming this way. That's the lion's share of the deficit that trustees are grappling with at the moment.
If all 320 students were from the same school, the easy fix would be to close its doors and help balance the books that way. The problem with declining enroll-ment, however, is that it's spread throughout the district, with each school losing 10 or 20 students, barely one per class, making efficiencies much more difficult to find.
An elementary school that loses 10 students spread out over a like number of classes can't make do with fewer teachers or other staff, yet those missing students equate to $86,000 in lost revenue.
Multiply that situation by more than two dozen schools and you see the scope of the problem.
Three decades ago the Delta school district had almost 19,000 students, and even as recently as 15 years ago there were still about 18,000, but when doors open this September, barely 15,000 are expected to be in local classrooms.
Trustees bit the bullet four years ago and closed two elementary schools when left with few other choices to balance the budget. Nothing so drastic is being proposed this year and, with enrollment expected to level off, perhaps won't be necessary in the future.
Let's hope projections are on the mark and the student population holds steady, because trying to run the same district with 20 per cent fewer kids has been an exercise in frustration.
