Although the current school year is barely beyond the midpoint, school district 54 is projecting a 4.3 per cent decline in enrolment for the 2013/2014 school year.
Steve Richards, secretary/treasurer with SD54 school board, made the announcement during the Feb. 18 school board meeting.
The projected enrolment for the 2013/2014 school year is 2,169.625 full-time equivalents (FTE), down about 95 FTE from the current school year.
The Ministry of Education requires the mid-year projections and uses them to determine funding for the following school year.
The decline in enrolment is not expected to affect all grades equally.
In fact, almost half of the drop in enrolment, about 46 FTE, is projected to occur in the K– 3 grades, Richards said.
“That’s a significant decline,” Richards said.
Enrolment is also projected to decline in the later secondary grades.
“But that is sort of an expected bubble movement,” Richards said of a larger than normal cohort of students moving through the system.
The extent of the decline in K– 3 enrolment is a first for SD54, Richards said.
“It’s a significant decline, typically I would expect a 1.5 to 1.75 per cent decline,” he said.
The decline in enrolment in primary grades is not unique to SD54, it’s a province-wide phenomenon, SD54 board chairperson, Les Kearns said.
In SD54, Kearns said much of the decline in K– 3 enrolment is the result of parents deciding to send their children to private schools.
The motivation behind the move isn’t clear, but Kearns speculated it could represent some degree of dissatisfaction among parents regarding labour issues.
“Parents are probably a little leery that some of those problems may continue this year,” Kearns said.
Karin Bachman, president of the Bulkley Valley Teachers Union, disagreed.
“Families move their children to private schools for a variety of reasons,” Bachman said.
“The school district may wish to look further into reasons for decline in K– 3 enrolment.”
Over the last seven years, students in SD54 have lost just three days of instruction due to labour disruptions.
Those three days occurred last March, Bachman said, when the government intervened in the bargaining process.
Despite the disruptions, SD54 teachers made every effort to ensure student learning was a top priority, Bachman said.
“Primary teachers in all Bulkley Valley public schools are working hard and doing their best to prove quality instruction for all students,” she said.
The decline in enrolment can also place the school district in a financial bind, given funding is in part based on enrolment.
“Decreasing enrolment is a major factor in my world and how to make things work” Richards said.
“You need to pay attention to business basics.
“You need to make sure your staffing, which is 90 per cent of your budget, is spot on.”
A recent report from the Association of School Board Officials documented several factors applying pressure to school board ledgers, such as increases in fuel prices, equipment, as well as increases in contributions to pension funds and salaries.
In the end, Richards said he didn’t expect the projected decrease in enrolment to impact operations, as long as the school district could find efficiencies in staffing and other areas of operation.
“I don’t anticipate it will be a problem,” Richards said about the potential decrease in enrolment.