Enrolment Up For Fourth Year

For the fourth year in a row, enrolment is up in the Vernon School District.

District 22 Superintendent Joe Rogers says the early figures show about 75 more students in classrooms, compared to last June.

“We’re up in both elementary and secondary, but we’re working with principals to confirm (the numbers). There are some students who have not shown up, that we’re still working on to see where they’ve transferred to, whether it’s to a different school district in BC, or if they’ve left the province.”

There is about 50 more in elementary and 25 more in secondary at this point.

Pictured: Joe Rogers, Vernon School District Superintendent

Rogers says it’s close to their projections, and says they will know the final numbers by the end of the month.

“It’s about what we thought. We thought we would be up by 60 or 70, so we provided staffing for that, but it looks like we may have to add a division in one of the elementary schools, and potentially some blocks in the secondary schools,” Rogers tells Kiss FM.

Rogers says each student translates to about $9,000 in funding from the
Education Ministry.

He says with the restored contract language by the Supreme Court, kindergarten classes have 20 students or less, primary is 22, and intermediate is 28 or 30 depending on if it’s a combined class.

District 83, the North Okanagan Shuswap, will release its early figures at its board meeting Tuesday night.