The Vancouver School Board’s Finance and Personnel Committee was held on the evening of Wednesday, November 8, 2023, where the meeting was also live-streamed. This was the first meeting since the Board approved Policy 8, where the Finance and Personnel Committees are combined to better align with current practices. 

The first item on the agenda was about the Statement of Financial Information (SOFI) report. As required by the Financial Information Act, the Vancouver School Board filed its SOFI report for the period of July 1, 2022 – June 20, 2023. As this is a ministry requirement for every school district, committee members unanimously voted that the SOFI report be brought to the next Board meeting for approval. See the agenda package for the full SOFI report. 

Committee members then heard a report on the District’s operating fund for the first quarter (July to September) of the year, which contains grants supplied by the Ministry of Education. The report outlined the District’s annual revenue, salaries for staff and expenses for services and supplies over the last three months. The report showed that the District is in a deficit position of $10.56 million from regular operations for the three months ending September 30, 2023. However, this is expected as only 11.4% of the annual Ministry funding has been received as per their disbursement schedule. The remaining 88.6% is received in the second, third and fourth quarters of the fiscal year. See the agenda package for the full report.  

For the last item on the agenda, committee members formed small group discussions to begin planning for the 2024 budget process. Under the School Act, all school districts in the province are mandated to submit a balanced budget to the Ministry of Education and Child Care every year by June 30. The VSB tracks revenues and expenditures across three funds: operating, special purpose, and capital funds, with provisions for annual deficits in the capital fund. The annual budget process aims to support the VSB’s Education Plan, particularly in increasing equity and resource stewardship, while ensuring legislative compliance and community engagement. The groups discussed previous budget processes, particularly what worked and what could be improved; how to align financial planning with the Education Plan; and ways to engage rightsholders, stakeholders and local community partners. The information collected will be used by staff to create a proposed financial planning process that will be presented to the Board for approval consideration.

To keep up to date with all of the District’s committee and Board meetings, see the calendar for meeting dates, agendas and livestream links. All recordings of past meetings are available on the District’s YouTube channel.