On Monday, June 26, 2023, at the final Board meeting of the year, the Vancouver School Board voted unanimously to approve the 2023-2024 Feeding Futures School Food Programs Fund spending plan as presented by staff.
The Ministry of Education and Child Care will provide $5,566,910 to the Vancouver School District for the 2023-24 school year.
During the 2023-24 budget process, the Board approved using $1.8 million of the fund to offset the District food program cost in the Operating Fund Budget. For the remaining $3.8 million, the District drafted a proposed spending plan and conducted an engagement process to capture feedback.
The engagement took place in June 2023 during which the District engaged with stakeholders, students and Indigenous rightsholders. The engagement summary report detailing What We Heard was presented at the Board meeting of June 26, 2023.
Staff recommended the remaining $3.8 million support five areas:
- $1.0 million to expand the hot meal production from Britannia Secondary's commissary kitchen.
- $1.1 million to partially offset school food program costs charged to CommunityLINK funding.
- $0.25 million to replace elementary school kitchen equipment.
- $0.20 million for programs with community partners.
- $1.2 million to expand the hot meal production from Templeton Secondary's commissary kitchen and take over operations of seven third party run cafeterias.
Following this decision, staff will begin implementing the five areas of the plan. As directed by the Ministry, the District's Feeding Futures School Food Programs Fund spending plan will be sent to the Ministry by July 31, 2023.
