The Vancouver School Board dug deeply into its rainy day fund Thursday to save a raft of programs threatened by budget cuts.

Saved at the board’s final budget meeting for the 2014-2015 year were the elementary band and strings program, the athletics coordinator, area counsellor, educational psychologist, speech language pathologist and teacher and support staff peer mentoring positions.

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The board took $2.5 million from its emergency reserves to maintain the program and positions, leaving $530,000 to cover the unexpected, which in previous years has included lower enrolment, reduced revenue from international students and the installation of hand washing stations during the H1N1 outbreak.

VSB secretary-treasurer Rick Krowchuk said the district’s senior management team has recommended the board maintain one per cent of its overall budget, or $5 million, in the emergency reserve.

Vision Vancouver trustee Rob Wynen recommended using the reserve to avoid cuts to the 2014-2015 budget, acknowledging it was a risky move.

“This is a rainy day,” he said.

Wynen said his son, who’s in Grade 7, has benefited from the threatened band and strings program and from athletics coordination, and Wynen couldn’t vote to deny future students similar benefits.

Other moves included:

Four maintenance worker positions instead of five were axed.

The gifted education consultant position was reduced to a 0.8 position instead of to 0.6.

The board will cease funding one substance abuse prevention worker position instead of two.

One multicultural liaison coordinator position will vanish rather than two.

The VSB granted the elementary band and strings program a year’s reprieve with the hope the community will help the VSB find solutions to sustain the program without $630,651 from the board in the future.

All six Vision Vancouver trustees voted in favour of Wynen’s recommendations. The three NPA trustees opposed them.

Vision trustee Mike Lombardi said the ministry of education’s comments that suggest using district money for capital projects “exacerbated” the decision to use the reserve.

NPA trustee Ken Denike said using the reserve boosted Education Minister Peter Fassbender’s claims the VSB cries wolf about budget shortfalls when in reality is has a surplus.

The board trimmed more than $9 million to balance its budget, as required by the province. The VSB chopped the continuing education program and one of the two teachers at the City School mini school.

NPA trustees Fraser Ballantyne, Ken Denike and Sophia Woo and student trustee Nick Milum suggested the board should sacrifice one or two peer mentors for teachers to retain both multicultural liaison worker positions and both substance abuse prevention workers to help vulnerable students, but the Vision-dominated board voted against these recommendations.

Denike recommended the board maintain its membership with the B.C. School Trustees Association for a cost of $80,000 per year, but Vision trustees voted against him.

Trustees agreed, however, the district shouldn’t endeavour to save $375,000 by closing schools for three additional days in November.

The board passed a restoration budget that estimates the district would need $54.3 million in additional funding to provide the same level of service that was delivered prior to the 2002-2003 budget cuts. NPA trustees voted against passing the restoration budget.

Ballantyne argued at the start of the meeting that with lower enrolment, the district could have closed two elementary and three secondary schools to address its budget shortfall.

VSB senior management initially predicted a $28.7 million shortfall for its 2014-2015 budget, which was revised to $11.65 after savings were found and the district received additional money from the province. Senior management forecast a $25 million shortfall for 2015-2016.

crossi@vancourier.com

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