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VICTORIA – The province will increase funding to operate B.C. public schools by $85 million next year. Education Minister Tom Christensen confirmed the amount today in keeping with the Feb. 1 deadline set in the School Act.
The 2004-05 operating funding for B.C.’s 60 school districts will be $3.875 billion, up from $3.79 billion this year. The amount is consistent with the budget forecast in the ministry’s three-year service plan.
The $85-million increase includes $50 million for district operating budgets and $35 million for school districts to implement generally accepted accounting principles.
The funding amounts to about $6,748per student, based on BC Stats enrolment projections. Next year, B.C. schools are projected to have about 574,219 full-time equivalent students, a decline of nearly 6,265 students from this year. Enrolment has declined by more than 21,300 students in the past five years.
Operating funding per student has increased by $904 since 1998.
* projected
In 2002-03, the province provided more than$50 million in special, one-time funding to districts. The province also provided districts with $42 million in one-time funding in 2001-02 to assist with cost pressures such as salaries, benefits and debt reduction.
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