STATEMENT FROM FRIENDS OF VIC HIGH (FOVH)

PRESENTED TO SD61 @ BUDGET FEEDBACK MEETING and

SUBMITTED TO BC MINISTER OF EDUCATION WHITESIDE

MAY 27, 2021

Good evening,

I’m Stephen Dorsey, co-founder of the Friends of Vic High, a group of community members and alumni advocating for the rights of current and future students of Vic High. 

I am speaking here tonight in solidarity with concerned parents and students and to detail the habitual lack of transparency and chronic financial mismanagement that links the current budget crisis to our long-running battle for the equity rights of Vic High students.

Why is SD61 so actively involved in the real estate business? They’ve negotiated land sales and worked hand in hand with the City of Victoria and the CRHC to orchestrate a lease that would see land intended for the educational use of Vic High students taken away forever.

Let’s follow the money.

On Tuesday, Ms. Joan Axford clarified that the accumulated operating surplus fund could be used for capital expenses. Funds from the accumulated operating surplus can be transferred to buy/fund capital items and recorded as capital expenditures. It’s a  debit and credit entry from a finite pool of funds.

When asked “How have the Burnside overages affected this years’ budget?”  “I hope it’s in the capital side” responded Ms. Axford who deferred the question to Secretary-Treasurer Kim Morris who noted that the more than $5.5 million Burnside deficit would not impact the 2022 or 2021 budgets. However, this response is not entirely accurate or transparent.

The reality is that millions of dollars from the accumulated operating surplus fund were transferred to cover more than $2.8M of the Burnside project deficit. We know this from information released by SD61 after nearly a year “in-camera”.

We can’t be sure where additional funds came from to cover the entire Burnside deficit (estimated to date at $5.5M, 200%+ over budget) because some of the financial information needed to make that assessment remains  ‘in-camera” restricting that information from public view.

Through Freedom of Information, we know that SD61 had already agreed to the proposed land lease deal with the City and CHRA before public consultations re: Vic High’s seismic upgrade and stadium revitalization. They needed the money fast. During these consultations, SD61 failed to disclose that the land-lease negotiations were already well underway and that as a result of giving up the land, the stadium plans as envisioned could not be.

Ms. Axford also noted that  the “SD61 board should have developed a strategic plan that was fully resourced and built from the ground up with community input.”  The current crisis is a failure of epic proportion with potentially devastating consequences for students and staff.

The Friends of Vic High are therefore calling on Minister Whiteside to:

1.     Immediately fire the entire SD61 board and;
 
2.     Appoint an independent trustee with a mandate to:
·       Commission a full audit of SD61 financials for the past five years;
·       Make available all “in-camera” information related to the Burnside and Vic High revitalization and seismic projects, and details of the land for lease deal engineered with the City and the CHRA;
·       And put on hold all land lease deals currently being contemplated
 
3.     Most urgently, the Minister should exempt SD61 from balancing their 2021 and 2022 budget to prevent any program or staffing cuts.
 

Thank you.

Stephen Dorsey, Co-Founder, Friends of Vic High

Vic High Grad 84. #firesd61board

dorseyondigital@gmail.com