In a downward trend seen throughout the province, Squamish schools are experiencing their lowest enrolment numbers of the last two decades, according to Howe Sound School District secretary treasurer Nancy Edwards. But while 150 schools have shut down across B.C. over the past six years due to the enrolment slippage, Squamish schools are in good shape, according to School District 48 officials.But Howe Sound Teachers' Association (HSTA) president John Hall says the district's saving grace - funds from international students should not be relied upon to make up for shortfalls, said.Although the numbers won't be certain until the first two weeks of school finish, the preliminary figures show that fewer than 4,000 students will be returning to school in the Howe Sound district."When the school population was counted up in the spring, for the upcoming year, is the first time we've dropped below the 4,000 mark," said Hall."We were at 4,500 students 10 years ago, probably," he added. "We've seen a decline in population over the years."The decline in enrolment presents a challenge to the district, according to Hall, because lower enrolment means less money for schools, which in turn "makes it difficult for schools to maintain programs."Stawamus and Brackendale elementary schools are typically the two schools that have small classes, but Hall says they will remain open this year."Every year there's rumours that fly around about [Stawamus] closing, but it really is our goal to keep it open," said Hall. "Fortunately we haven't seen [closures that the rest of the province has]. The board has been able to keep our small school open." Despite the lower enrolment rates, the district is still facing classroom sizes that defy the legislated cap of students per class. According to Bill 33, the maximum amount of students per classrooms for Grade 4 and up is 30.But the district's website shows that in 2007, Howe Sound Secondary School had four classes with over 30 students, and Don Ross Secondary School had 11 classes with over 30 students.The Howe Sound School District is not alone in its struggle to keep class sizes in line with legislative criteria.In a recent press statement, the BCTF stated that "last year there were more than 3,000 classes across the province that exceeded the B.C. Liberals' own legislated requirements, affecting more than 8,000 students.""There is no new money to reduce class sizes and nothing to help students with special needs," said BCTF President Irene Lanzinger. "Our students deserve better than broken promises."In a telephone conference on Tuesday (Aug. 26), Education Minister Shirley Bond announced "we are seeing the education budget in this province at the highest its ever been in British Columbia, nearing $5.7 billion it's a 23 per cent increase since we've took office."But Hall says the budget doesn't take into account inflation factors."It's another year, there's inflation, there's collective agreements, people's salaries go up, and everything costs more," he said. "They haven't actually provided specific funding for the increase of energy costs They haven't provided any money at all to meet the demands of trying to keep three students with special needs per classroom.The result, he said, is that there has been "a shortfall," which "in real dollars when ingested, is in the hundreds and millions of dollars."Currently the district can thank the revenue collected from international students, which amounts to a little over $1 million each year, for keeping some of its schools with small classes open."The biggest situation is we've kind of had a bit of a luxury in our district with having those extra funds," said Hall, "and as a result we've been able to maintain some programs, while other districts that don't have the advantage of being in the Olympic corridor and being attractive to foreign students, they have seen much more drastic cuts."But the revenue should not be seen as a substitute for provincial monies since it's not something the district can rely on forever, said Hall. The current $1 million is "half of what it used to be," he said."Both the HSTA and the board agree that the district can't be relying upon that kind of money," he added. Numerous phone calls were placed to schools superintendent Rick Erickson for a comment about enrolment and class sizes, but were returned.
