Surrey Schools needs to find $16 million to balance 2025/2026 Budget
(February 28, 2025, Surrey, BC) The Surrey Board of Education announced the district is facing a shortfall of $16 million dollars to pass a balanced budget for the 2025-2026 school year. This is due to provincial funding not keeping pace with inflationary pressures and years of population growth in Surrey.
At the most recent public Board meeting, Vice-Chair of the Surrey Board of Education Terry Allen, was clear that additional measures are necessary to ensure Surrey Schools’ long-term financial sustainability and to minimize disruption to educational and operational services. Last year, the Board approved a budget of $1.142 billion for the 2024-2025 school year and had to make difficult decisions to pass a balanced budget.
“The Board has been forced to make difficult, and sometimes heartbreaking, decisions around busing for diverse learners, the Guildford and City Central Learning Centres, while meeting its goal of delivering a high-quality education for every single student in Surrey,” says Vice-Chair of the Surrey Board of Education, Terry Allen. “We are also managing growing costs around the needs of our diverse learners. For example, Surrey Schools, spends $54 million more per year on special education funding than the provincial government provides - and it’s just not sustainable.”
The Board of Education is again challenged with continuing programs that are not in the B.C. curriculum and meeting its core responsibilities as defined by the School Act. As a result, the district will focus on delivering core educational services, and the priorities identified in the Board of Education’s 5-year strategic plan.
“Most people don’t know that beyond per student funding, Surrey Schools does not receive any funds specifically for busing, band, Strong Start, learning centres and related infrastructure, building leases and portable moves,” says Allen. “However, the Board will continue to do their best with the funds available - and at the end of the day - we’ll do everything in our power to protect students and families in Surrey.”
As the Board continues to focus on the strategic plan, it will assess all programs and services, including StrongStart and others, while focusing on delivering on its statutory responsibilities under the School Act. At this time, non-contractually obligated, non-teaching staff will be allocated to classroom positions. This allows the district to maintain certified teachers in classrooms, helping alleviate the teacher shortage and deliver on parents’ and caregivers’ priority to see certified teachers in each Surrey classroom. In addition, any changes to district office positions will reflect critical organizational functions. The district is also examining the delivery of elementary band programs to look for efficiencies and align Surrey Schools’ programming more closely with other districts around the province.
The Surrey Board of Education has a statutory responsibility to pass a balanced budget prior to June 30th, 2025. As more than approximately 93% of the budget is required to cover teacher and staff salaries and benefits, there is very little flexibility in how the Board can reduce costs to deal with budgetary pressures.
Every year, the Board of Education launches a budget consultation process to hear about the priorities of Surrey families. The Board has extended the timeline for parents, guardians, and community members to provide input on the 2025-2026 budget through the district’s budget consultation survey.
For more information, please contact:
Rena Heer Director of Communications, Surrey Schools
