School cuts won't be deep: Halifax board chair

The chair of the Halifax Regional School Board is optimistic that Nova Scotia school boards won't have to go through with a 20 per cent budget cut.

Boards across the province received a planning document from the provincial government last week that suggests cuts totalling as much as 22 per cent over three years.

Halifax chair Irvine Carvery doesn't believe that's going to happen.

"It is a big number, but I don't believe that that's the number that is going to be reflected in our budgets," he said. "We have to remember that this is a planning exercise. I believe the government and the department are looking for us to let them know what the impact would be and then base their decision on that impact."

Education Minister Marilyn More has said that with an enrollment drop of 35,000 students over the last decade, cost-saving scenarios have to be explored.

The suggested cuts total $196-million. More says no final decision will be made without consultation with school boards, but also denies that the move is a tactic to prepare boards for a smaller funding cut. 

Some school board members have expressed shock at the potential cuts.

But Carvery believes it's only an information-gathering exercise for the province.

"All the boards across Nova Scotia are hoping to be able to work this through their system, and then have another meeting with the minister to inform her exactly what this would mean to education in Nova Scotia," he said.

"We would want them to go away with that information and then to come back to us and have another discussion."