Education Minister Mike Bernier today released the Forensic Audit of Board Expenses and Review of the Vancouver School Board.

“What I find most troubling in the special advisor’s report is how the Vancouver School Board allowed money to be tied up in inefficiencies, rather than spent in classrooms, in services to students, and on teachers,” Bernier said. “Stability has been put at risk by overstaffing compared to other school districts, labour agreements driving additional call out, duplication, and idle time, and a failure to use surplus real estate like the Kingsgate Mall to set a new path for fiscal sustainability.”

Three documents making up the full report are being released today:

The Forensic Audit of Board Expenses and Review of the Vancouver School Board (the report from Special Advisor Peter Milburn): http://ow.ly/TttC305DK9w

Review of the Vancouver Board of Education (District 39) (the detailed audit and reports prepared by Ernst and Young to support the report from Peter Milburn): http://ow.ly/RVUA305DKef

Review of the Vancouver Board of Education (District 39) - School Closure Supplemental Report (prepared after the suspension of the school closure process to examine the impact that decision had on the full Ernst and Young report): http://ow.ly/SxrM305DKi7

“The special advisor’s report makes it clear what challenges are involved in restoring stability for parents and students in the Vancouver School District,” Bernier added. “The reports – both the special advisor’s report and the Ernest and Young review – deepened my lack of confidence that those challenges would be dealt with and solved by the former board.”

The special advisor’s report prepared by Milburn makes 28 recommendations. It was supported by a review of the finances and governance of the district prepared by Ernst and Young (EY). That review contained 31 recommendations.

“The EY review provides a very careful, comprehensive and neutral analysis of the hard choices involved in proper trustee stewardship. Stewardship affects issues like the delivery of education, seismic safety, continuity of employment, and the financial planning required for sustainability in those respects,” Bernier added. “Mr. Milburn’s report, read together with the EY report, underlines the fact that stewardship is challenging enough without the distractions created by a focus on political advocacy.”

All the reports are online at: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/education-training/administration/kindergarten-to-grade-12/reports-and-publications.

Excerpts from the special advisor’s report include;