School District 60 amends annual budget over fewer enrolments

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — School District 60 (SD60) has amended its annual budget for the 2025-26 school year due to a decrease in enrolment.

The amended budget bylaw amounted to $107,966,238, a decrease of $258,743 from the previously agreed annual budget for the school year 2025-26, which is the total authorized expenditure for the district for the school year. 

Angela Telford, secretary-treasurer for SD60, told Energeticcity.ca: “We start the year with certain assumptions and then as the year goes on, we get more special purpose funds.

“The amended budget occurs in real time so we have a much clearer picture as to what’s happening…within the district and understanding of how the school year is progressing.” 

The district had to adjust the spending due to a drop in enrolment with a difference that is equivalent to nearly 80 full-time students fewer than predicted. 

The district amended the total for the its Ministry Operating Grant Funded FTEs (full-time equivalent) to just over $6,210 from just over $6,286. 

Telford said: “The way the preliminary budget that was presented back in June of 2025, it was based on projected enrolment. 

“We didn’t have the actual, so it was just our best efforts to see who would be showing up in September.” 

The funding includes students attending brick and mortar schools as well as learning online, Telford said. 

She added: “As you get into different grades, after grade nine, you don’t have to take a full course load. So that’s why we have to use FTE instead of head counts.” 

She added: “How we do our projection at that time is, we take the grade 12 that are leaving, we take what we anticipate to be coming in as kindergarten and then we do a percentage for just natural attrition and movement within our town, that’s how we came up with the preliminary figure.” 

She added that when the students don’t show up, “we make adjustments.” 

The district also amended its total revenue from what was projected in the preliminary budget, from $105,959,139 to $105,046,720, a difference of $912,419. 

This included revenues from Ministry of Education and Child Care grants, tuition, rentals and leases, investment income and other revenues. 

When asked if the amended budget will affect staff and students, she said: “I don’t think there’ll be an impact on operations. 

“Students and staff won’t feel anything in schools and we’re quite happy with where we landed.” 

For the 2026-27 academic year, she said: “We know that the budgets are going to be tighter next year, according to the provincial budget, so we are waiting to see what the per-student funding will be.

“But using the strategic plans that are within the district, which we adhere to, we always seem to make good decisions and keep students at the forefront.” 

Telford said she is glad that the district maintained the service levels it started with and did not have to “veer off” during the amended budget time.