The Sea to Sky School Board predicts a slight drop in enrolment across all Sea to Sky schools for the 2023 to 2024 school year.
During the March 8 public board meeting, the school board shared that it submitted to the province about a 3% decline in enrolment across all of the schools. This equated to about 21 fewer students in Pemberton schools, about 78 fewer students in Whistler schools and about 68 fewer students in Squamish schools.
“We're forecasting our enrolment to decline by about 173 students across the district,” said Danielle Haverstock, secretary-treasurer for SD48.
Haverstock explained that the school district tends to be on the more conservative side when it comes to projections, but this decline would result in less funding for the district.
“Potentially, we're looking at a decrease of over $500,000 for the school district, possibly up to $600,000, if we actually ended up going in that direction,” Haverstock explained.
SD48 calculates this projection using a demographer and having the schools look at that number and add or subtract based on information they may have that the demographer doesn’t, such as a family planning to move.
For comparison, Haverstock said last year the district under projected at 5,204 when enrolment wound up at 5,262.
For Squamish schools' headcount projections from SD48, there is predicted to be a slight decline in elementary-age enrolment at 57 fewer students, with an 81-student increase in secondary-age enrolment.
Don Ross Middle School continues to be projected as the biggest school in the district, with 745 students, compared with the second-largest Howe Sound Secondary, at 696 students.
Garibaldi Highlands Elementary, Brackendale Elementary, Squamish Elementary and St’a7mes Cultural Journeys are predicted to decline, whereas Mamquam Elementary and Valleycliffe Elementary are expected to increase.
The largest declines predicted are at Sea to Sky Alternate School and Sea to Sky Online School with decreases of 26% and 38%, respectively.
