The Qualicum School District will request approval from the Ministry of Education to underspend on targeted Indigenous Education funding for the 2023-24 school year.
Trustees voted to confirm the $104,931 has been allocated and will be spent on Indigenous Education programs in the 2024-25 fiscal year.
“My understanding is there were some funds that were not spent because of a change in the leadership of the Indigenous Services and so there was a period of transition," said Trustee Elaine Young during the board's Sept. 24 meeting.
Superintendent of schools Peter Jory said he had reached out to Katie Marren, district principal of Indigenous Education.
“We had a teacher in the department that was brought into an acting vice principal role that actually wasn’t hired until partway through the year and then was brought into an acting vice principal role which shifts that budget away from Indigenous Education," Jory said. "She cited two other positions, one where a person retired and they were not able to fund a replacement and another where they were looking for the right person and it took a while to hire."
As a result, Jory added, the district was unable to spend the entire budget on staffing as planned.
The unused funds amount to approximately one-10th of the Indigenous Education budget, noted school board chair Eve Flynn.
