The Kamloops Thompson School District has laid out a 2 year plan to balance-off an accounting error which has left the District with a massive budget shortfall.

Secretary-Treasurer Trina Cassidy says they’re currently meeting with senior staff to sort out where the cuts will be coming from.

“[We are trying to] Find sustainable budget reductions in district-level supplies and services of 15% to 25%,” Cassidy told Radio NL.  “We’re also looking at school supply carry-forward. Collectively the schools had unspent budget monies of just over a million-five.”

She says they’re also going to find some additional money through an increase in the per-kilometer rates that parents pay to allow their students to take field trips.

“It’s currently at 35 cents per kilometer. We’re increasing it to 54 cents per kilometer,” said Cassidy.

SD73 Superintendent Rhonda Nixon says the District is also looking at adjusting the professional development day structure for teachers to find cost reductions.

“We are pausing professional learning until we have our final enrollment and we’re able to see where we stand for the 2024/25 year,” said Nixon.  “I will say that I’m absolutely an advocate for professional learning.”

Nixon does say that at this point, she doesn’t foresee any staffing cuts.

The moves come after an accounting error saw the District spend some 2.2-million it thought it had, only to discover a revenue line had been added twice.