By Greg Fry

Education

SD57 superintendent cites need to be ‘fiscally responsible’ during budget process

Apr 22, 2025 | 3:25 PM

PRINCE GEORGE — The superintendent of School District 57 has reacted to concerns raised from the Prince George District Teachers’ Association and CUPE Local 3742 who say their concerns were ignored during this year’s budget process (2025-2026).

Jameel Aziz says he’s not surprised by it but notes when he arrived last year, the District was facing a $2.2 million dollar structural deficit and says if the district continued to do business that way, the district would lose money every year.

“Last year we made some difficult decisions, we reduced some programs, we reduced some staffing, in order to make sure we didn’t have this situation occur on an ongoing basis. This year we have a balanced budget and a very small surplus ($300,000 to $600,000) and some of these requests are literally asking the district to reinstate the things we had to address last year in order to take care of that structural deficit.

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“So, I understand the unions’ job is to advocate for the things that the unions’ believe are important, but I really hope that the general public understands our district is in a much better place than others are. Most are facing deficits, they’re having conversations around million and millions of dollars, they’re having to make cuts to their unionized staff, teachers and staff and we’re not having those discussions.”

Aziz expects the Board of Education to pass the budget at a meeting next month. You have until April 22 to fill out a survey to share your thoughts on the budget process.