Annual Facility Grant (AFG) / Hold Backs / Lease Information

The Ministry of Education has announced that it will not be providing the Annual Facilities Grants to districts this year. This represents approximately $110 million of funding that was expected by boards to fund needed repairs and improvements to schools.

In addition, 43 boards will also be receiving notice that holdback money they received at the end of the last school year (from funds left over from the overall block because the mid-year enrolment change was lower than expected) will have an equivalent amount held back from their fall grants. This represents approximately $3.7 million.

Also, boards who lease space to Conseil Scolaire Francophone (CSF) have been told that they will no longer able to charge CSF the capital portion of the lease (which was previously refunded to CSF by the Ministry). This represents approximately $1.9 million that previously came from a special purpose grant.

BCSTA President Denesiuk has spoken personally to the Minister and senior ministry staff, expressing her extreme unhappiness about the hardship that these measures will place on boards. “The loss of these funds will significantly impact budgets that boards have set – budgets that have already been stretched to their limits. It will be impossible for boards to make these mid-year adjustments without affecting existing programs.”

BCSTA is pressing the Ministry for a meeting with all board chairs and superintendents at the earliest possible opportunity. President Denesiuk and Executive Director Hansen will be in Victoria to attend the budget lock-up and gain more detailed information about the Ministry of Education budget.

For more information contact:

BCSTA Executive Director Stephen Hansen
e-mail: shansen@bcsta.org
Phone: 604-734-2721 (115)

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