Results of the second phase of Rocky View Schools' budget and program priorities consultation were released to the board trustees last week. 

Launched Mar. 10, the survey asked for feedback on a variety of cost-saving ideas and potential revenue sources.  The questions in that survey were shaped by the provincial budget as well as by feedback received in the first portion of the survey.  

Over 1,400 responses were received with 829 coming from the public and 575 from staff. 

Here are some of the highlights:

  • Two-thirds of staff suggested that savings be found through reducing Education Centre service levels and staffing costs with 80 per cent of staff suggesting savings be found through reducing costs associated with the Board of Trustees.  Over 80 per cent of the public echoed staff sentiments about funding savings through reducing the costs associated with the Board of Trustees.  The concept of investigating shared service with other boards resonated with the public (67 per cent)
  • The public identified that reductions in instructional and inclusion services were less appealing than leadership service costs.  Staff felt that maintaining inclusion services was the most important.  
  • Support to maintain current levels of professional learning offerings was only around 20 per cent by both the public and staff.
  • Transportation service levels and fee questions to the public provided no clear direction with none of the choices receiving more than 50 per cent support. Families with students on the bus were more in favour of continuing to subsidize transportation services than families without students on the bus.  While no options received more than 50 per cent, for all groups - increasing fees was more favourable than eliminating services.
  • Staff were more supportive than the public about investigating changes to the school calendar.  Just under 50 per cent of the public suggested RVS investigate eliminating every second Friday with just over 65 per cent of staff supporting that same investigation.
  • That public and staff both had support in the low 60 per cent range for requiring families to pay a fee of approximately $30 for consistent K-Grade 4 school supplies.  Less than10 per cent of families with students in K - Grade 4 next year expect schools to provide supplies at no cost
  • Increasing or charging a fee to cover the complete cost for field trips, optional courses, extra-curricular activities received majority support by both groups.  Families with three or more children were more supportive of continued subsidies than families with two or fewer children.  For every group, on every one of the fee questions, 'reduce these enhanced services' was the least popular option.
  • The public and staff had differing opinions with regard to lunch supervision fees.  Only one-third of the public supported increasing or charging a fee for lunch supervision while 59 per cent of staff supported that approach.
  • No clear direction was provided by either group when looking at program fees related to programs of choice and/or alternate programs.
  • Approximately 60 per cent of staff supported implementing a technology fee in some form while 46 per cent of the public were in support of some form of a tech fee.
  • The clear majority of both groups shared that class size average be maintained and that savings be found elsewhere.

The results were accepted as information by the board. The feedback will be taken into account as part of its budget process.  

The first part of that survey was conducted prior to the provincial budget being tabled and asked families, staff, and residents to identify budget priorities, cost-saving measures, and revenue-generating ideas.  It received more than 1,000 responses from the public and nearly 700 from staff. The results were released on Mar. 10.