It has seen growth for thirty consecutive years but student enrollment is down in BC’s largest school district. And it's the same story in Vancouver as well, except in Vancouver it was expected.
Vancouver School Board Chair Patti Bacchus says a drop of five-hundred students had been anticipated, but it turned out to be more like 700 fewer pupils.
"Fortunately because we had projected the five hundred, and in some cases held back staffing in some schools, I don't believe we have to make any staffing adjustments in terms of classrooms due to that."
In Surrey it's hardly a dramatic loss as much as it's a symbolic one. It's a decrease of seventy two students.
The problem is the district forecast an increase of nearly two hundred kids, which means Surrey will likely lose out on more than five million dollars in Provincial funding.