The new budget for B.C.’s fastest-growing school district is a departure from its $2.8-million shortfall last year.
The Sooke School District has passed a $239-million budget for 2025-26, which includes $1.7 million in funding to add 19 new teachers.
Another $4.2 million will go to inclusive education, which supports students with specific needs who require individual education plans and case managers, including English-language learners. The number of students covered by inclusive education rose to 4,378 in 2023-24 from 3,824 in 2022-23.
The new budget for B.C.’s fastest-growing school district is a departure from its $2.8-million shortfall last year.
Secretary-treasurer Brian Jonker, who joined the district in January, said the district has emerged from a difficult time.
“This is a good news budget for our students, staff and community,” Jonker said. “After last year’s challenges, we were able to invest meaningfully in the classroom, while building safeguards for future financial stability.”
The budget allocates $819,000 for the opening of SĆIȺNEW̱ SṮEȽIṮḴEȽ (schee-ay-nuh ska-leetk-luth) Elementary School in Langford this September, and to support new programming and services at Royal Roads University’s John Horgan Campus.
Last year’s shortfall led to the reinstatement of school bus fees, which hadn’t been in place since 2016.
It was decided that a fee of $300 per rider per year was preferable to cuts that could have affected counselling or an early-childhood program in kindergarten and Grade 1.
The budget process began in January and included a public survey to help determine priorities, the district said.
The district now has more than 13,700 students, and is expected to grow by more than 400 in the next school year.
Student numbers have risen by 40 per cent in the past 15 years, the result of rapid population growth in the West Shore area.
SĆIȺNEW̱ SṮEȽIṮḴEȽ Elementary, located on Latoria Road at Klahanie Drive, is expected to be at or near its capacity of 480 students as soon as it opens in September.
Land has already been secured for three more elementary schools — on Flint Avenue in north Langford, in Colwood’s Royal Bay district and in the area of Sunriver Estates in Sooke.
All of B.C.’s 60 school districts must file a balanced budget every year by June 30.
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