District 83 Budget Passed

Board of Education Trustees of School District 83 passed three readings of their 2008-09 budget.

The controversial school bus fee was not included in this year's budget.

Enderby Trustee Chris Coers who heads up the Finance Committee said it was a tough budget and a lot of options to come up with the $360,000 shortfall were looked at...

"Some of the other things put forward were to reduce Learning Resource Teacher time or Certified Education Assistant time or to take away money that is given to schools for transportation for extra-curricular or sports travel." says Coers.

In the end, the Board voted to keep those budgets as they were and made reductions elsewhere. The biggest single chunk is coming from administration which is $78,000.

The Board of Education expects to pull in extra money by partnering with the Vernon School district and bringing in 12 international students - boosting the budget by $100,000.

Bob Crouse Astral Media Radio News, Salmon Arm