By JENNIFER LANG WHERE’S the money? - The man who balances the books at the Coast Mountains School District is disappointed that a $50,000 task force on rural education won't result in any extra money from the province, Despite closing five elementary schools this year - and holding off on opening a brand-new one — this school district is facing a major budget deficit for the 2003-04 school year. Secretary treasurer Marcel Georges blames declining enrolment for the _./ Money trouble — plus the govemment’s ‘-refusal to foot the entire bill for its le- gislated wage increase for teachers and rising employee benefits costs. But he also said school districts outside the Lower Mainland are pena- lized by the education ministry’s new funding formula, introduced earlier this year. Although this district got a buffer grant worth more than $400,000 to help soften the impact of the new for- mula, that money will be phased out. Meanwhile, rural schoo! districts plagued by declining enrolment will have to wait for the economy to im- prove, education minister’ Christy Clark says. Clark recently announced she’s ap- pointing a task force to make recom- mendations on improving rural educa- tion - but cash-strapped school dis- iricts won't be geiling any more money. The group will study challenges fa- Dialysis unit designer picked LOCAL ARCHITECT Dan Condon has won the con- tract to design the $1.4 million renal dialysis unit at Mills Memorial Hospi- lal. It'll have «six stations and be open early next year for people with kid- ney ailments who other- wise would have fo move out of town. - | The unit will be located in the main administrative wing of Mills situated to the left. after entering through the main doors. “It’s not important where administration is,” said Cholly Boland, the area’s senior Northern Health Authority official. Having the unit closer to the main entrance makes it more accessible for out-patients of the dia- “lysis clinic, he said. “Some of the administra- tive people will be going to empty office space in ‘the ‘old Sleeping Beauty Lodge building. It’s loca- ted on the hospital grounds and naw houses the area’s two pediatricians. And the home support people will move to the health authority’s commu- nity-based health complex on Kalum where home care workers are based. The unit’s location was first proposed to be in an unused part of the hospi- tal’s second floor, It will take two months for Condon te do the de- sign work, prepare con- struction documents, issue tenders and award con- tracts. Construction is to take three months. A Northern Health Au- thority spokesman said ar- chitect’s fees are $86,000, but include some prelimi- ENC GIR PN TRE LEA eR cing schoo! districts outside of the Lower Mainland The three-to-five member group, headed by former Prince George dis- trict superintendent Jim Imrich, will spend the next three months consulting with parents, teachers and school dis- tricts. They will report back to her on Jan. 15, Clark said rural school districts are faced with unique challenges like de- clining enrolment, student transporta- tion problems, and difficulties hiring new teachers and keeping existing ones. The task force will also look at what the ministry calls “e-learning”, or electronic learning using computers, which may offer hope for schools that The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 18, 2002 - A7 Rural schools get task force but no more cash can’t offer courses because not enough students want to take them, “Declining enrolment is by far the overarching problem facing rural com- munities,” Clark said, adding she ex- pects the economy will continue to have an impact on student numbers, “The economy needs to get back on its feet,” she said. “Ultimately, the so- lution to declining enrolment is to get our economy going.” She insisted the answer isn’t spend- ing more money on schools — it’s spending the money in the system wi- sely. And that means no new money for school districts. “We will be asking the task force to work within the current budget,” Clark said. “We are trying to do this as quickly as we can,” she told the Terrace Stan- dard. “We don’t want to impose deci- sions on school districts, but there is an urgency to bring ideas to the table and to provide districts with toals.” The B.C, Teachers’ Federation says 46 schools have been closed as dis- tricts try to balance their budgets. Clark denied suggestions that the education ministry’s new funding for- mula — based almost entirely on the number of students — favours centra- lized urban school districts with dense populations. “It’s net accurate to suggest that rural communitics didn’t do as well as urban communities did under the for- mula,” she said. Cohebr ating set ork and Purchase A Reclining Purchase A Qualifying La-Z-Boy i ‘able travel to La-Z-Boy? 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