Cheslakees Elementary Schools, which was previously a kindergarten-Grade 5 school, has been offering just kindergarten for the past several years.
A Port McNeill elementary school is set to close due to a drop in student numbers and a $1.1-million budget shortfall in the Vancouver Island North School District, says the president of the district’s teachers association.
Shawn Gough said the closure of Cheslakees Elementary School will be the sixth school shutdown in his 25 years as a district teacher, although he notes it has been some time since a school has closed in the area.
He said funding from the province hasn’t kept up with inflation, leaving school board trustees having to make “impossible choices between infrastructure, school supplies, staffing and the very existence of a school.”
Cheslakees, which was previously a kindergarten-Grade 5 school but has been offering just kindergarten for the past several years, had been under threat for a while, Gough said.
It currently has about 30 students, and will officially close on June 30.
Staff members will move to Sunset Elementary School in Port McNeill, said Gough, adding the school won’t sit empty, since much of the space has been leased out.
The Education Ministry said the Vancouver Island North School District is one of three school districts in the province that have seen dropping student numbers, with a 6.5 per cent decline for the five years leading to 2022/23.
Also down are the Gulf Islands School District with a 15 per cent decline and the Vancouver Island West School District, which dropped 27.5 per cent.
Gough said the Vancouver Island North district is predicted to drop below 1,200 students in September.
He said the shortfall on an overall budget of about $18 million has meant about a 10 per cent cut in funding for just about all district initiatives.
The school board, which passed its 2025-26 budget last week, was in a tough position, Gough said.
“It was like a rock and a hard place,” he said. “They really did try to minimize the impact on kids, but ultimately, when you’re cutting $1.1 million out of that budget, you’re going to affect kids.”
All 60 B.C. school districts are required to pass a balanced budget each year by June 30.
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