The Provincial Government has announced that administrative savings from school district will be directed back to students.
That means that 25-million dollars will be going back to Districts throughout BC to do with what they please.
For Quesnel that amount is $168,780.
We asked Cariboo North MLA Coralee Oakes if this was in response to school districts closing schools ?
She says “absolutely, i have had over 20 meetings with the Minister, with the Premier, about concerns we heard around the effects of closing schools in our community and we fought for it, as MLA’s we went and fought to make sure there was increased revenues. It’s our hope that the school board will use these increased resources to keep these schools open.”
When asked if it would be enough money to keep Kersley and Parkland elementary schools open, Oakes says the District actually loses money by closing rural schools.
Oakes says rural schools also bring in funds through regional districts and have the ability to partner with additional agencies such as First Nations.
She says the cost to keep Kersley open is 118 thousand dollars and around 160 thousand for Parkland.
Oakes says she plans to sit down and meet with the School Board soon.
In fact she says a meeting that was planned for today was postponed because of Sunday’s fire at the District Board Office.
Today’s announcement also has an impact on the Cariboo Chilcotin School District.
District 27 will get $259,687 back in administrative savings.
