The North Van school board and partner groups say they will ask the education ministry to reinstate the $3-million facilities grant slashed earlier this fall, even though the chances of that reinstatement are slim, said school board chair Susan Skinner.

“We can’t really look at our chances,” said Skinner. “We just have to move forward in our resolve to support public education and not allow any further erosion.”

The school district learned of the clawback in an Aug. 27 letter from deputy education minister James Gorman stating that the ministry would recall unspent facility grant dollars from across the province to the tune of $98.6 million.

In North Van schools, that meant the ministry slashed $3.1 million from the approved $137-million operating budget.

“We were already looking at a $3.2-million deficit,” said Skinner of the consultation process last spring that saw the district cut 40 jobs and some educational programs to balance the budget for 2009/2010. “We’re lucky that we were quite cautious in spending our (annual facilities) grant this year. We didn’t spend it all over the summer.”

North Van schools have used $1 million of that now-revoked grant in school upgrades such as asbestos abatement and fire safety plans. Those projects include a $70,000-replacement for the heating system at Norgate elementary or a $5,000-bike rack at Handsworth secondary.

However, other projects scheduled to go forward under the facilities grant are at a standstill.

Windsor secondary won’t see a library upgrade and furnace and exterior lighting replacements won’t go forward at Plymouth and Capilano schools.

North Van parents advisory council co-chair David Whitehead said the cuts represent a direct threat to classrooms.

“Every time another cut is introduced we hear the same language which is ‘We’re not going to cut core services,’” said Whitehead. “But the fact that they have to remind you they’re not going to cut core services specifically means that’s what’s under threat.”

Belt-tightening measures in the school district have also impacted special needs staffing. By not replacing absent special education staff, the district could save between $50,000 and $75,000 this year, however the measure has raised some concern that school staff will be asked to do too much.

NVSD communications manager Victoria Miles said in an email that the staffing squeeze is “not directly related to the AFG cut.” She added, “we would very much like to reassure concerned parents that children will be cared for and supervised during their time at school.”

Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid wrote in an email to The Outlook that the ministry warned school districts to use only their cash reserves in advance of the AFG funding.

MacDiarmid did not respond to questions about how the ministry will treat the school district’s request for the reinstatement of the AFG.

“For this year we have asked all school districts to use unspent facility grant dollars for their school maintenance projects, so that the dollars the government provides can go directly into the classroom,” MacDiarmid wrote.

Board chair Skinner told The Outlook, “The minister has said we are keeping core funding in the classroom, but what about the (physical) classroom? That’s what the annual facilities grant represents.”

kmcmanus@northshoreoutlook.com