BY THE NUMBERS
• 300 — total enrolment increase over February 2015 projections*
• 40 — additional students in elementary school
• 110 — in middle school
• 150 — in secondary school
* numbers could change and won't be official until finalized through the Ministry of Education later this fall.
Stronger than expected enrolment in Tri-City public schools this fall has created more than two dozen new jobs for teachers and special education assistants, and could mean more cash for programs geared to struggling students.
School District 43 superintendent Patricia Gartland told the board of eduction Tuesday the district enrolled 300 more students last month than were expected when the district compiled its enrolment projections in February.
The result is SD43 can expect to get more provincial funding than was budgeted and can put $1.3 million that had been held in reserve towards staffing in January and, possibly, additional student services.
"The increase in enrolment is very good news," Gartland told trustees, noting that several positions were filled to accommodate the unexpected influx of kids, including 16.5 full-time equivalent teachers and 11 FTE education assistants.
It's not known whether the additional enrolment over projections is due to more students moving to or around the district during an unprecedentedly heavy real estate season this summer, as reported by The Tri-City News. Gartland promised to have a full report on enrolment and staffing in November.
Coquitlam Teachers' Association president Charley King confirmed that teachers who lost positions in spring were rehired by the end of summer, creating opportunities for teachers on call to fill positions in September.
"This is a significant turnaround from last year for all teachers," he said.
But he noted that school staffing is still tight after previous cuts to balance the budget.
"It is important to remember, though, that these new teaching positions are a result of increased enrolment, not a result of the board adding more resources to hire teachers to service the existing population," King said in an email.
"Teachers are still doing more with less as a result of board cuts of 70 FTE in 2014 and 90 FTE in 2014.”
Meanwhile, the demand for more special education assistants (SEA) to help students with special education needs has resulted in a labour crunch. Paul McNaughton, SD43’s director of instruction for learning services, said districts across Metro Vancouver are competing for SEA, making it difficult to fill some positions.
"The situation is a struggle in schools," McNaughton said, “but we're doing everything we can to attract people into the system."
In some cases, SD43 is offering positions to SEAs as soon as they finish their practicums.
The district was also able to hire more youth workers and clerical staff after switching over to a private company to run five non-teaching secondary school cafeterias.
