The School District 72 Board unanimously approved a capital budget project bylaw that will allow the district to access up to $1.07 million for maintenance and repairs next school year.
In the vote taken during its May 5 regular meeting, the board gave three readings to the bylaw, a Ministry of Education-mandated step instituted with a change in the funding distribution model.
“As we receive our annual facilities grant from the Ministry of Education, they’ve split it,” treasurer Kevin Patrick told the board. “It used to be more of an operating style grant they provided to us from a trust fund. They now require a certificate of approval to the money from the treasury, and to get access to that, they require a board bylaw.”
The Ministry’s total Annual Facility Grant for 2015-16 is $121.386 million. Of that, $25.196 million continues to flow from the operating budget and the remaining $96.190 million comes from the goverment’s capital funding allocation. In addition to the $1.07 million, Campbell River School District may draw from the capital fund, it will receive $141,171 from the operating portion of the budget in a one-time installation in July.
Trustees voted first to allow all three required readings of the bylaw at one sitting, then pass each of those readings to establish Capital Bylaw No. 126879.
The funding covers maintenance and repair of capital infrastructure.
An expenditure plans for all projects must be submitted to the Ministry in advance, and projects must be completed by March 31, 2016.