Although operating with a budget surplus at the moment, declining enrollment and rising inflation means the Kamloops-Thompson School District’s financial woes are far from over.
The district started the 2025-2026 school year with a $5.1 million operating surplus; which interim secretary treasurer Harold Cull and administrators scrounged together after the previous secretary treasurer was fired due to a $2-million budgetary error during the last scholastic session.
However, Cull revealed during a school-board meeting last month that trustees need to be cautious when making financial decision because maintaining a surplus in the years to come will not be easy.
“It’s important as a district, and you as a board, that when you’re making financial decisions, you look two to three years ahead,” Cull told trustees.
As it stands now, the district’s annual surplus is about one percent of the operating budget. Cull forecasts that surplus will be in deficit for the 2026-2027 and 2027-2028 school years by about $1.6 million each session if the current trend continues.
The culprit? Continued declining enrolment and rising inflation.
The province funds school districts based on student enrollment, and the district has seen its student body in decline in recent years. Final enrollment numbers for the current school year weren’t available at press time, but interim district superintendent Mike McKay told media a slight decline is again expected; a trend that’s not limited to Kamloops-Thompson.
“This is a Kamloops-Thompson story, but it’s a story that’s all around the province and, in fact all around the country,” said McKay, adding inflation isn’t the only culprit.
Rising wages, the cost of school supplies, and upgrades to facilities constrain on an already tight budget, he said.
To create this year’s surplus, Cull and company had to make tough decisions based on consultations with staff and parents. Some positions, like library assistants, were cut and other absent roles not filled. School board chair Heather Grieve said the goal is not to go through those kind of cuts again but, moving forward, trustees and district administrators might have to make hard choices.
“Those are bridges we’ll have to cross when we get there,” she said.
In the meantime, the board intends to petition the province to increase per-student enrollment funding in hopes of staving off such cuts, said Grieve.
Although enrollment is predicted to decline again this school year, McKay pointed out the numbers aren’t “falling off a cliff.” Some districts are losing more students, others less. Kamloops-Thompson is somewhere in the middle, he said.
However, fewer kids are coming into kindergarten than are graduating, and this is trend that is continuing, said McKay.
“Here’s where we are over the next several years and the graph is trending down,” he said. “It is trending down and we need to pay attention to that.”
McKay promised the district will never run a deficit, and a surplus — even a slight one — will always be found. His goal is to make sure it’s done with the least amount of impact to students, he said.