School board trustees are frustrated about the inequitable funding they say they receive from the province for vulnerable students.
Most notably trustee Mike Murray, who has been fighting for several years to increase the level of funding the district receives from CommunityLINK, (Learning Includes Nutrition and Knowledge), a provincial fund designed to support the academic achievement and social functioning of students in need throughout the province.
Now the board has established a Committee of the Whole to reinforce their advocacy on the issue.
They want a review of how CommunityLINK funding is determined by the provincial government, and, at the very least, an interim correction to be made to reflect the current socioeconomic background of each district
According to the school board, the Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows School District receives the lowest per-student funding in the province.
Programs supported through this fund can include: breakfast, lunch, and snack programs; academic supports; counseling; youth workers; and after-school programs.
School board chair Elaine Yamamoto noted the total provincial allocation for CommunityLINK in the provincial budget is $60,393,000.
However, SD42 only receives a little more than one per cent of this funding, despite having 2.8 per cent of the provincial student population.
“While we recognize the need for additional support for more remote and rural areas, the Ministry of Education and Child Care has been unable to explain why an urban metro Vancouver district such as New Westminster receives $212 per student while our district receives only $38 per student,” said Yamamoto.
Yamamoto also noted that the provincial average for CommunityLINK funding is $100 per student.
If the school district received the provincial average, advised Yamamoto, that would translate into more than $1 million in additional supports for vulnerable students and their families. Receiving the same amount as the New Westminster or Vancouver school districts would mean more than $2.5 million in additional funding for the district.
In May of 2023, SD42 Board of Education had a motion passed by the provincial assembly of school boards that the B.C. School Trustees Association ask the Ministry of Education and Child Care to provide its data and rationale on how CommunityLINK and the Equity of Opportunity Supplement funding is determined and distributed to districts. And to also ask for the ministry to increase funding, “to ensure equitable distribution without a negative impact to current levels of district funding.”
In October that same year, then Minister of Education and Child Care, Rachna Singh replied to a letter from local MLA’s that CommunityLINK funding required revision as amounts allocated to districts was based on “outdated socioeconomic data and a historical grant application process, and therefore no longer address current inequities across the province.”
Most recently, the school board wrote a letter to current Minister of Education and Child Care Lisa Beare in September this year, about the ongoing issue, requesting immediate action.
Beare wrote back in October saying a kindergarten to Grade 12 public education funding review was completed in 2018.
“At this point, government has paused the implementation of the remaining recommendations from the Funding Model Review and will review the path forward at an appropriate time in the future,” said Beare in the letter.
“I want to reassure you that the Ministry is committed to engaging with partners on any path chosen.”
Education funding is not keeping up with inflation, said Yamamoto.
“Government funding has not kept pace with rising operational costs, including maintaining our facilities and information technology infrastructure. Our 2025/26 budget was challenging, and we anticipate needing to find additional savings and consider potential reductions to programs and services moving forward,”noted the school board chair.
“Additional dollars through CommunityLINK targeted funding would help relieve pressure on our general operating budget,” she added. “At a time of increasingly challenging budgets, securing a fairer share of CommunityLINK funding will help ensure that all learners, particularly those who are most vulnerable, have equitable opportunities to succeed.”
The Committee of the Whole has already held their first meeting and will be releasing more information at the first school board meeting in 2026, on Wednesday, Jan. 14.