Roof replacements, new boilers and other small maintenance issues are a need for the Arrow Lakes school district, but funding to complete the projects is still pending.

The district has been saving its Annual Facilities Grant, a grant which was discontinued as of this year, and have accumulated over $360,000. The district is waiting until there is enough money to get all the projects on the go, says district Superintendent Walter Posnikoff.

The list of projects needed to be completed as soon as possible may not be long, but they are big ones. A roof replacement at Lucerne Elementary Secondary School will cost approximately $326,000, the replacement of the roof at the current board office and adjacent offices brings a cost of $107,000 and also the project to bring in two new boilers at Nakusp Secondary School will cost roughly $128,000 and Lucerne is in need of a new boiler as well. Posnikoff says all the work is backlogged because of the district trying to raise enough money to get work started. In total, the projects will cost upwards of $789,000

Two weeks ago school board chair Pattie Adam sent a letter to the Ministry of Education to request restricted capital funds which have been held by the government from the sale of the Glenbank school and other small sales, which the district only received a portion of. The amount comes to $242,000.

A spokesperson from the Ministry of Education says the letter has been received and the request is pending as Minister Margaret MacDiarmid has been off sick.

The school board also had issues earlier in the school year trying to balance their budget after finding out about the loss of the AFG grant. At the time they had to come up with the $170,000 shortfall, a number which has dropped as enrolment this year is a bit higher than expected. The ministry stated the Arrow Lakes school district received almost $13,000 per student from their annual operating grant, which should cover most expenses, but Posnikoff says while the number is accurate if you divide the total amount by the number of students, the district is in such a rural setting a lot of the added money received goes into transportation, heating and other needs for the district. To make up for the loss in the budget, the school district had to cut two bus runs, which meant laying off staff. The district also put freezes on professional development funds for the superintendent and IT personnel. Some savings are being accrued at NSS with Sue Paterson taking on the role of principal without there being a vice-principal in place.

Currently, the provincial average for operating grant funding is $8,323 per pupil, while in SD #10, the estimated per pupil funding based on projected enrolment is $12,985, says the ministry spokesperson.

The spokesperson says these numbers are based on a geographical supplement for the largely rural school district.

Another concern for the district is that no new money will be received to implement all-day kindergarten next year. Posnikoff was under the assumption that funds would be re-allocated to fund the program. The ministry spokesperson says the government has promised $151 million provincially over the next two years. The first year would see a distribution of $44 million as only certain schools will bring in all-day kindergarten, while in the second year it’s assumed all schools that can will implement the program.

As part of this initiative, superintendents have been asked to submit a list of what is needed to implement all-day kindergarten in the schools in their district, and which schools they would like to be involved in the first year.

“In terms of a discreet [Kindergarten], we’re looking at probably implementation first year at Nakusp here, and in the following year in the Southern Zone at Lucerne,” says Posnikoff. “It’s going to be very dependent on numbers. It’s a matter of how we run a discreet kindergarten program and a multi-age one in both the peripheries in Lucerne and in the Southern Zone, where we have a K –3 and a K –4 class. At that level, we would be adding the kids for a half day without adding additional resources.”