The Kamloops-Thompson School District says its hard to know if $339 million in new funding over the next three years meant to hire new teachers will improve shortages in the Kamloops area.

Speaking on NL Newsday, SD73 Trustee John O’Fee says teacher retention in Kamloops is not the issue, but as for new teachers, he says the devil will be in the details.

“It’s a function of how many teachers end up retiring, and how many we bring in. We’re going to see those baby boomers starting to leave the system and certainly those need to be replaced. And so, just off the top of my head, I think it’s hard to say whether that’s going to be an adequate enough number.”

BC Teacher’s Federation President Teri Mooring previously noted the new funding – meant to hire 4,200 teachers across the province – will not address areas facing significant teacher shortages.

“People are choosing BC. We see it in the school system, you know that’s the canary in the coal mine so to speak,” noted O’Fee. “Districts like Vancouver have had declining enrollment because it’s just simply not affordable and more affordable communities like Kamloops are seeing quite substantial growth, where we are seeing this influx of families.”

While the BC budget is balanced, O’Fee admits he was a little disappointed after taking a first look at the budget this week.

“In my rough arithmetic shows about a two per cent lift in K to 12 education. We’ll there’s a two per cent salary increase, if the 2-2-2 ultimately goes through with teachers. That will eat up a big chunk of that,” he noted.

“In Kamloops over the last two years, we’ve grown the equivalent of two elementary schools, and we’re also down a school without Parkcrest Elementary. It would have been nice, of course everyone wants everything, but it would have been nice to see some investment in school facilities”

Work on replacing Valleyview Secondary is set to get underway this year, while the school district is working with the province on a replacement for Parkcrest Elementary.