Puppet show, an Eester egg hunt, and treats. Some 30
School District Financing (Part 2)

2.7-Mill T

By ANNE JONES

(The following article is the
second in a series regarding
school budget financing, sub-
mitted by school board trust-
ees.)

In our last article, we tried
to explain the way in which all
school districts in the province
are financed through a’ com-
bination of locally- and pro-
vincially-raised money. In this
article, we will try to show how
the figures apply to School
District No. 9.

As explained in our pre-
‘vious article, each school dis-
trict receives an allotment of
“instructional units” based on
the number of students attend-
ing district schools on Oct. 31
each year and the number of
schools in operation.

For 1978, School District
No. 9 received 167 instructional
units. In addition, the provin-
cial government credits us with
15 “special approvals”, each
worth 80 per cent of an in-
structional unit. Special appro-
vals are given for provision of
special programs such as learn-
ing assistance, alternate school
operation and educational ser-
vices to visually or hearing im-
paired children.

Each instructional unit is
worth $27,000 and each special
approval worth $21,600,

Therefore we get:

167 instructional units
+15 x 8 instructional
units = 179 1.U.'s
179 LU.’s x $27,000 =
$4,833,000.

Grants for transportation
and health services are also

- For
OFFICE
FURNITURE

Chairs
Filing Cabinets
CASTLEGAR NEWS

Phone 365-7266 .
for.a representative to call

O SON OF BEING!

allowed by the government and
these equaled $230,000.

The provincially-approved
sum for provision of School
District No, 9's “basic education
program” is $4,833,000 plus
$230,000, or $5,063,000. As

budgetted by the board, this”

sum is adequate to cover the
entire basic educational pro-
gram provided by the district.

* However, the provincial
government does not simply
hand this money over the the
school board. As explained in
our first article, the province
raises at least a portion of the
money for the-province's basic
education program from prop-

S ‘sli aide
parents were also presént. A special”
extended to Chris Hrytzak and

co-ordinated the programs.

erty owners throughout the
province by requiring every
district to levy a minimum mill
rate, known as the “basic
levy".

This year the provincial
government increased the basic
levy from 87.5 mills to 42.5 mills
(an increase of 18.83 per cent!)
No school district is ‘permitted
to levy less than 42.5 mills, no
matter how much more than its
own requirements that levy
may raise. Any excess goes to
the province to finance educa-
tion in other districts,

At the present time the |

school board has no idea what
the total assessment figure for

Canadians Have Only
Themselves to Blame

, Canadians have only them-

selves to blame for many of the .

country's economic ills, says the
president of the Canadian
Chamber of Commerce.

Harold Crosby said that
while there is “an international
component beyond their con-
trol," Canadians have been
largely the authors of their own
misfortune.

Joy Keillor
Bridge Club
.Game Results

Ten-and-one-half tables,
with an average of 121'/2, took
part the evening of March 20 at
the Joy Keillor Bridge Club
with the following results:

North-South

First, Grace Donaldson
and Jean Fischer with 145%;
second, Bev MacDonald and
Inez Walker with 142%; third,
Claira Johnson and Etuka Cam-
eron with 187'%; fourth, Don
Elison and Jude Goodwin witl
182%.

East-West

First, Dr. Kirby O'Don-
aughy and John Frame with
150'2; tied for second with
145% are Bert Tyson and Ian
Glover with Lorne Musclow
and Chuck Clarkson; fourth,
Julie Smith and Bill Scoffham
with 131%,

Thou art My lamp and My light is in thee. Get thou
from it thy radianve and seek none other than Me. For |
have created thee rich and have bountifully shed My

favor upon thee.

Baha'u'llah

Box 3323, Castlegar VIN 1H3

They have allowed govern-
ment to grow too big, to take
too big a bite out of earnings
and to hinder enterprise by
éxcessive surveillance and
regulation of the private sector,
he said.

They have also allowed
their costs in business and
industry to get out of control

and be less competitive in.

world markets, Crosby told a
Charlottetown, P.E.I. local
Chamber of Commerce meet-
ing.
“Among these costs are
high taxes to finance social
Programs beyond our means
and high wages to satisfy
unrealistic expectations,

“We failed to work hard
enough on the problem of pro-
ductivity, particularly in rela-
tion to the structure of our

industry, economies of scale

and development of good labor
relations.”

Club Prepares
For May Day
Celebrations

A new executive was elect:
ed when the Community Club
met to discuss May Day prepa-
rations in New Denver recent-

iy. i
Mrs. Bev Casely is presi-
dent; Mrs. Shorty De Rosa,
first vice-president; George
Mark, second vice-president;
Mrs. Janet Amsden, secretary
and Mathew Hudson,’ treasur-
er.
Among the events and
activities planned for the May
Day weekend are a teen dance,
fashion show, casino and dance,
canoe jousting, soap box derby,
bread and pie contests, tug-of-
war, parade, beer garden,
Maypole dance, crowning of the
queen and games and con-

ks been
Loulse Sheffer, who

ax Increase Expected

school district property will be,
because the new assessment
was 47,871,534. A mill is 1/1000
of this figure, so last year, one
mill raised $47,871.53,

Presuming the assessment
will increase to $48,500, we can
calculate that 42.6 mills will
raise $2,061,250. This leaves
$3,002,760 to be paid by the
provincial government to the
district for our basic education
program,

- In other words, Castlegar
taxpayers pay about 40 per
cent of the basic education cost
for district students, Naturally,
we cannot be certain about
these figures until the new
assessment totals are received
in April. If the mill value has
increased, local taxpayers will
pay more than 40 per cent, but
if it has decreased, they will
pay a smaller share.

Most districts also have to
raise money over that provided
from the basic levy and pro-
vincial revenues. School Dis-
trict No. 9 is no exception.
Buildings constructed in the
past have to be paid for. The
provincial government shares
in this cost, but for 1978, a total
of 3.7 mills is projected for the

istrict's share of “debt ser-

required ‘to be paid on deben-
tures sold to finance school
construction. Since this money
has in effect been spent in
building schools, this portion of
a district's budget can only be
reduced by paying off a deben-
ture issue totally (like paying
off a mortgage on a home).

In School District No. 9,
local taxpayers also must con-
tribute towards operational
costs of Selkirk College and
other non-operating expenses
such as lunch programs. This is
estimated at approximately
four mills.

This sum may be largely
eliminated in the future if the
province assumes total respon-
sibility for college costs, but we
have been informed this will
not happen in 1978..

The schoo! district also
budgets for what is called
“non-shareable capital costs”
Unlike school construction
costs, the cost of acquiring new,
equipment for schools and of
improving ground and buil-
dings after initial construction,
must be borne entirely by the
school district.

For many years, School
District No. 9 allowed one mill
for these items. However, the
inflationary trends of the past
few years, coupled with the fact
that our mill value was not
increasing, led the board to

* increase this budget area a year

ago and this year, the figure is

projected to be 2.88 mills.
There is, therefore, a levy

of approximately 10 mills over

Sasquatch Topic of Cocderecta
Examined at UBC

Fina) - details are’ taking
shape for the conference on
Anthropology of the Unknown:
Sasquatch and Similar Pheno-
mena, which will take place at
the University of British Col-
umbla from May 10 to 18, 1978,

Some 30 academics will
present: papers at the con-
ference, jointly sponsored by
UBC's Museum of Anthropo-
logy and Centre for Continuing
Education.

The wide-spread interest
in the topic is indicated by the

3 Tickets Win
$1 Million Each
In Lottery

Three tickets each worth
$1 million were drawn Monday
in thé Provincial lottery draw.

The winning tickets were
5113883, 4186341 and 1606450.

Two other tickets each
worth $100,000 were also
drawn. Those winning numbers
were 4674857 and 2784590.

There was a total of 22,000
prizes for about $5 million in
prize money.

The next draw will be
April 30th in Toronto,

© Great variety
in Kate's
Cotton Knit Tops?

Stretch Terry

64"' Wide. Great
for jumpsuits,

various disciplines the speakers
represent—from the specialist
in literature who will speak on
“The Wildman in Medieval
Trish Gaelic Literature” to the
anthropologist. who will talk
about “Bushman Images
Among Northern Athapa:
kans” and the psychoanalyst
who will discuss “Unwanted
Possession.”

Noted scholar Dr. Carleton
Coon, one of the world’s most
eminent physical anthropolo-
gists and an authority on
human evolution, will address
the final evening session on
“Why There Has To Be a Sas-

+ quatch.”

« Conference. organizers are
still waiting to hear whether
Dmitri Bayanov of the Darwin
Museum in Moscow will be able
to attend. Bayanov is a leading
Russian hominologist who has
recently published a paper on
the subject of whethtr Sas-
quatch is a leftover Neander-
thal man,

Sasquatch ‘hunters John
Green from ‘Harrison Hot
Springs, (who has written
several books on Sasquatch),
and Rene Dahinden: of Rich-
mond, (who has travelled to the
USSR to consult with the
Russian hominologists}, will
also take part in the sessions.

TV Evangelist Visits
Castlegar Saturday

A host of a weekly tele-
vision show will be appearing in
Castlegar this Saturday, the
beginning of his nine-day visit
to this area.-

Terry Winters, one of a
new breck of Christian evan-
gelists, refers to his approach of
communicating the age-old Gos-
pel of Jesus Christ as “con-
temporary Christianity", as he
seeks to put Biblical truth in
terms that are easily under-
stood by everyone.

His weekl i seleviaion show
on Sunday ‘allernctus~ is a
combination of interviews, good
music and what he calls “ex-
plaining the Christian mes-

ge". Terry Winter doesn't
“preach"—he explains,

On Saturday, ha and his
team of performers will be at
Stanley Humphries gymnasium
for one night only. The re.
maining eight nights the evan-
gelist and his team will be In
Nelson for what the Nelson
churches are calling ‘Nelson
Alive".

His program includes “The
Joyous Celebration”, a lively -
singing group of seven young
people, as well as the Bowker
brothers, two talented men
who play..duo pianos.-'......

Winter, who lives in Van-
couver, is a graduates ofathe-.
University of British Columbia,
He gained ‘his doctorate at
Fuller Theological Seminary in
California, ‘ Y

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Coming Next Week . . .

Watch next week for our
Annual Spring
Anniversary and

Link Hardware Sale!”

Save baskets of the green!

,
Besides fantastic savings of the

. green throughout th

jou'll find
one

Remnants

Less ....

: me +3239 © 365-2472
Orcall: 365-3773 © 365-3: “ dynamic savings on

Microwave Ovens and Frigidal

cession booths.

the basic levy to provide for
_—

at Castlegar Drug.
Pampers

Newborn. 30's

Daytime Extra
Absorbant. 24’s ..

Toddler. 12’s ....

Rall-on Deodorant.
Scented or Unscented.

Spring has Arrived at Castle-
gar Drug's Downstairs Toy-:
land. Drop in soon and see the
latest in toys and games.

CLOSED THIS SUNDAY

Carl's Drug Hours: 12-1 p.m.

&6-7p.m.

these three areas of local educa-
tion. The prospective mill rate
for 1978 is 50.3 mills. Last year
it was 47.6 mills, so the increase
is 2.7 mills,

Considering the fact that
the basic levy was increased
five mills, this is somewhat less
than might have been expected,

The total budget is ap-
proximately $5,600,000 exclud-
ing Selkirk College costs,

How does the board spend
this money? In our next article
we will show generally how this
money is. all , or “who
gets what".

Appllances. Thére will also be a

Panasonic microwave ove |
demonstration, so don’t miss this
fantastic sales event coming next week!

YOUR
LINK
HARDWARE
STORE

AIR TRAVEL
AGENTS FOR
ALL AIRLINES

* Reservations
% Accommodations

* Tours

21 PINE STREET, CASTLEGAR

PHONE 365-7782