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By Dylana Kneeshaw

school district budget 2025/2026

SD73 says staffing cuts not expected to be in-classroom positions, unrelated to previous accounting error

Apr 10, 2025 | 4:34 PM

KAMLOOPS — According to the recently presented draft budget plan for the coming school year within the Kamloops-Thompson School District, 27.5 teaching positions and 49 support staff positions are on the line.

“It just feels really devastating to see these kind of cuts that have to happen,” Kamloops Thompson Teachers Association President Laurel Macpherson told CFJC.

The plan would see teaching staff spending cut by $3.5 million, alongside $2 million in support staff cuts, a $400,000 cut with administrative positions, and $350,000 in decreased service and supplies spending.

“We’re working with a lot of teachers who are extremely concerned about positions. They’re extremely concerned about what happens next,” notes Macpherson. “It’s kind of like everything is up in the air.”

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B.C. school boards are legally required to pass balanced budgets each year. And the local school board claims the proposed cuts are part of a move to address around $5.8 million in cost increases, while the provincial ‘per-student’ funding has not gone up.

“We’re seeing common themes around inflationary costs,” explains board chair Heather Grieve. “In terms of supplies and services going up, the cost of vehicle maintenance, parts and gas, those kinds of things. An increase in relief costs. That is something that is being experienced province-wide with other districts.”

“The problem is, we didn’t need to reduce the budget, we needed to find the difference between the per-student funding and all of those provincial increases,” adds Superintendent Rhonda Nixon.

The move comes after the district had to adjust spending last year to recover from an accounting error that led to a $2 million budget shortfall. However, Nixon states the error is not related to the current budget plan, noting that the previous deficit had already been corrected and a small surplus of around $390,000 had accumulated before the 2025/2026 provisional budget had been formed.

“It had been recovered before we began the process of having to say, ‘Okay, what are the provincial cost increases? Now, how are we going to find the difference?” reiterates Nixon.

As for student impact, the district says staffing reductions will not be in-classroom positions or those connected directly to classrooms.

“We’re not oblivious to the fact that these are very real impacts on human beings.” adds Grieve. “At the end of the day, even when we look at how we are going to do our best to ensure impacts on classrooms are limited. We recognize that the impact is going to be on the people who also work within the district and that is huge.”

From the educator’s purview, Macpherson feels part of the solution lies with the current provincial funding model.

“We’re trying to do more with less and we have been asked to do that for a while. The expectations from the district and the province keep increasing. But provincial funding doesn’t increase — not to where it meets the needs of the system,” she stresses.

“You take this amount of money out of the system, you have to wonder where that’s going to be impacting students,” adds Macpherson. “At this time, I don’t know what we can offer. We can say that we don’t want this to happen. However, I think it’s going to be some lean years for a while.”

Feedback can still be given on the preliminary budget, and on April 28, the board will make revisions or pass the document. After that, employees included in the proposed cuts will be notified.

CFJC has also reached out to CUPE 3500 and the District Parent Advisory Council for comment, and will have more from both organizations in the coming days.