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By Victor Kaisar

School Budgets

DPAC demands boost in provincial funding amid potential SD73 staffing cuts

Apr 21, 2025 | 4:29 PM

KAMLOOPS — The District Parent Advisory Council (DPAC) in the Kamloops Thompson School District (SD73) is calling on the B.C. government to address an “education funding crisis” in schools.

It has released its response to the school district’s preliminary budget, which is proposing to cut nearly 77 teaching and support staff positions to save millions in the 2025-26 budget because of a number of “significant budget pressures.”

DPAC Chair Bonnie McBride said the 16-page document was sent to Premier David Eby, Education Minister Lisa Beare and Finance Minster Brenda Bailey on Monday (April 21), coinciding with the deadline that SD73 set for people to have their say on the proposed budget.

“The position that Boards of Education have been placed in by a lack of investment and attention by the Ministry of Education and the provincial government has reached a critical point,” McBride said. “Our district, Kamloops-Thompson, is simply unable to proceed in a way that meets student needs any longer.”

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Just last month, McBride told CFJC Today that students will be left behind unless provincial funding levels increase as school boards are required to present balanced budgets each year.

“We absolutely know there are going to be cuts in our district. There is no way — there is not enough money,” McBride said on March 19, noting the per-student funding that school districts get has not increased, even as salaries and other costs have risen.

“[Trustees] are running out of things to cut and it just comes to a point where you say, ‘We cannot bear the burden of this within communities anymore. We need to revamp structurally how we are funding education.'”

Earlier this month, SD73 Superintendent Rhonda Nixon said the district had to make “very difficult decisions” to manage approximately $5.8 million in cost increases in 2025-26. The district is proposing to cut 27.5 full-time equivalent (FTE) teaching positions and 49 FTE support staff positions,

“We have done everything we can to meet priorities of our school communities and partners, while recognizing that it is an impossible task given the current funding levels,” Nixon said during an April 10 budget webinar.

The district later clarified that the proposed staffing reductions will not be in-classroom positions or among people connected directly to classrooms.

In its submission to the province, the SD73 DPAC said trustees have been put in “an impossible position” by the provincial government, adding that without the necessary investment, districts have been left “vulnerable to exclusion-based legal action.”

“Students who experience vulnerability in their lives, through racial discrimination, poverty-based challenges, housing and food insecurity, disability, and gender-based discrimination are at much higher risk of exclusion,” the document said.

“This budget does not allow for these students to access an equitable and individualized, full-time education program.”

McBride said parents are calling on the B.C. government to present meaningful education plans for the next year, noting that school districts have “exhausted reserves, surpluses, and partnerships.”

“We will be cutting programs, services, reducing access to supports and placing vulnerable students at risk without immediate intervention from education partners across governments and the education sector,” McBride said.

“Year after year, we share the same challenges and experiences with districts and the province; schools are excluding children, districts are out of space, students are not getting the support they need in early years to meet literacy and numeracy goals. And now, we are out of options for how to deliver education equitably for all children.”

Image Credit: SD73 DPAC

McBride also said the challenges don’t just affect SD73, as a number of other B.C. school districts are unable to deliver equitable and individualized school programs, adding “the time to act, to pivot, to be creative and responsive, is now.”

“Our families face the same economic pressures as our province, and cannot keep doing car washes and selling chocolate bars to support literacy initiatives,” McBride said.

“We look forward to continuing to work with our partners in education across the district and province, and our families and students, to create the most responsive, innovative, and accessible education program we possibly can for our students.”