The Vancouver School Board plans to close as many as 10 schools to make up for a multi-million dollar budget shortfall, chair Patti Bacchus announced on Thursday.
"The Vancouver board of education must now begin preparing for the closure of several Vancouver schools over the coming year," Bacchus told reporters at a press conference.
She added that the board has not yet finalized the list of schools of schools to be closed, but will release the names next week.
The latest VSB estimates put the board's budget shortfall at $17.23 million for the 2010-2011 school year.
Along with the school closures, the board also plans to cut 162 full-time staff positions and cancel some programs, for a total savings of $15.73 million.
That leaves the VSB with a shortfall of $1.5 million, which the board has recommended should be covered with a transfer from its capital reserves.
The school board is now forwarding this latest budget proposal to Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid for review.
The school board has been locked in a war of words with the education ministry since March, when the board announced that it was facing an $18-million budget shortfall, a figure that has since been revised several times.
In response to what she called "unacceptable" proposed cuts, MacDiarmid assigned comptroller general Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland to review the school board's books in April.
Wenezenki-Yolland released her report on June 4, slamming trustees for poor financial management and a lack of strategic planning, and identified $12 million worth of revenue and cost-savings measures like closing schools and charging higher rental fees for child-care providers and community groups using board facilities.
On June 10, MacDiarmid ordered the school board to submit a balanced draft budget taking into account Wenezenski-Yolland's suggestions.
Bacchus said Thursday that the board has rejected several of Wenezenki-Yolland's recommendations, including raising rents for child-care providers.
"We don't think that the comptroller general's recommendations…could ever be considered in the best interest of students and parents," Bacchus said.
She also argued that 26 of the comptroller general's recommendations would have "no budget impact."
On Thursday night, the board will hold a public consultation at Mount Pleasant Elementary School to ask for input on its latest budget proposals.
The final vote on the budget proposal is scheduled for June 23.
