R /Q?
TRANSPORTATION REFERENDUM
Will new Pattullo & Surrey LRT come despite a No vote? Next referendum Q&A: see A13 and tricitynews.com
eXtras at tricitynews.coM >>
THINGS-TO-DO GUIDE: A19
Miss Caledonia, Up the Creek & more THE TMT
TC
Habitat loss a buzz kill for wild bees in B.C. / Mapping Metro’s cultural tribes
FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2015 Your community. Your stories.
TRI-CITY
NEWS
CLIMBING FOR SICK KIDS
Coquitlam mom Dora Vanourek’s An illustration of the Thirty Meter Telescope, which will be built by Dynamic Structures of Port Coquitlam.
Bucks bounty in TMT
training isn’t all fun and games as she prepares to climb the summit of Denali in Alaska in June. but there’s more to the challenging climb than the adventure — she’s also raising money for bC Children’s Hospital: see story, page A3
JAniS WArren
The Tri-CiTy News
The Tri-City economy may have taken a hit recently with the loss of Target, Future Shop and Williams Moving but it will soon see the ripple effect from a multi-million dollar federal contract awarded to a Port Coquitlam firm. Guy Nelson, the executive chairman, CEO and president of Empire Industries Ltd., which owns Dynamic Structures in PoCo, told The Tri-City News the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) may be destined for Hawaii but the $243.5-million contract to build it will be felt in the Tri-Cities. Nelson said the company of 150 employees expects to hire another 130 people in the next two years to help manufacture one of the world’s largest telescopes at its Kingsway Avenue plant. see TRI-CITY, page A6
SUBMITTED PHOTO
SCHOOL DISTRICT 43 FINANCES
Foreign tuition boosts budget No staff cuts are planned for the next school year DiAne StrAnDberg The Tri-CiTy News
School District 43 will be able to avoid staff cuts next year, pay off some of its debt and absorb $1.5 million in administrative downloading
thanks to a steady stream of fee-paying foreign students. This year was a record for international education in SD43, with 1,500 students paying $13,000 each to attend Tri-City public schools — up from the 1,050 that were budgeted — and there doesn’t appear to be any slowing of this trend, according to superintendent Patricia Gartland. On Tuesday, dozens of teachers, parents and support
workers attended a special public meeting on the school district’s 2015/’16 budget and heard that the trend of foreign students studying here has prompted the district to forecast 300 more students than it usually estimates, translating to a nearly $4-million funding boost. Budgeting for 1,300 international education students instead of 1,050 is “aggressive” but doable, according to
SD43 secretary treasurer Mark Ferrari, who said the money won’t pay for any frills but will allow the district to plan for a “status quo” budget for the next school year and avoid staff cuts. The district will also be able to cover its $1.5-million portion of the province’s shared services mandate under Bill 11, in which school boards must find approximately $29 million in cost savings or risk being
removed and replaced by an official trustee. An additional five teachers will be hired over and above the number that would normally be allocated given a slight decrease in enrolment but, other than some staffing realignments, there is no indication that the $13.8 million in cuts made last year will be restored.
see UNIONS DECRY, page A9
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