The Vancouver School Board has approved it budget for the coming school year and bridged a seven and a half million dollar shortfall. Chair Patti Bacchus says the final budget has some revisions but there will still be some layoffs, "About 4.8 teacher reductions. Now, that does not tell you the whole picture because the budget is based on enrolment generated figures. So there were already about 39 teaching positions being reduced because of our projected decline of about 1000 students. There will be some small staff reductions."
Bacchus says the Board has voted to take the continuing education program off the chopping block and give it one more year. She says they also drew around a million dollars from the capital reserve to make ends meet.