Valemount parents begin letter campaign ahead of school budget discussions

By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, RMG

The Valemount Secondary School Parent Advisory Council is in the midst of a letter-writing campaign to advocate for rural students ahead of school board budget deliberations. 

Last year, School District 57 faced down a $2M deficit at the beginning of the budgeting process. School boards are required to submit a balanced budget to the Ministry of Education by June 30th each year, leaving the board with tough decisions to make – and contemplating several cuts which parents worried would disproportionately impact rural students.

Among potential cuts the board considered last year was the elimination of the school counsellor for Valemount’s elementary and secondary schools. While the board successfully balanced the budget without eliminating the counsellor position, the experience left many parents worried that future budget cuts would hit rural schools the hardest.

In light of these concerns, the Parent Advisory Council for Valemount Secondary School held a public meeting with MLA Rosalyn Bird on January 20th. Parents discussed their concerns about the budget, and potential ways to advocate for rural students and teachers if faced with another large deficit this year.

The parent council decided on a letter-writing campaign – a tactic that would allow them to voice their concerns about the budget and demonstrate community support for keeping the counsellor position.

“As parents of rural school children, we are very much concerned regarding the much-talked-about reduction of school funding to rural schools, elimination of [the] counselling position, and possible elimination of face-to-face instruction time for some classes,” the letter reads. 

The Parent Council has been working on the campaign for about a month now, and over 120 people have signed the letter, Council Chair Shanon Manahan told The Goat.

“We’ve gotten community members to sign letters as well,” Manahan added. “It’s not just the parents – we’re getting everybody to do it.”

While the school board has not started its 2025/2026 budget deliberations, the Parent Council believes the letters will send a strong message to the school board, Manahan said.

“What little we do have, we want to keep,” Manahan said of Valemount schools’ resources. “Even if they don’t cut anything, we still want the school district to know that we are supporting our kids, and that we will fight for them.”

The Goat reached out for comment from the School District and the board of directors, but did not receive a response by presstime. MLA Bird did not respond to The Goat’s request for comment.