Eagles win a pair at home page 23
Sherrold Haddad puts on the brakes page 9
Tuesday October 23, 2012
Serving Surrey and North Delta
Student numbers drop for first time in 30 years
Tough talk for TransLink from Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts:
Road pricing or ‘we’re done’
But Surrey expects school enrolment will keep climbing going forward by Sheila Reynolds FOR THE first time in three decades,
by Jeff Nagel
METRO VANCOUVER mayors have set an end-of-
February deadline for the province to pony up a new funding source for TransLink or else they’ll axe a looming property tax hike and force transit service cuts. The four-month window for new talks – in light of Transportation Minister Mary Polak’s offer for speedy negotiations – was proposed by Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson and passed Thursday with most mayors in favour. “It’s all up to the province at this point,” Robertson said. “This puts the ball back in the B.C. government’s court.” But several mayors say they think there’s almost no chance Victoria will agree to a controversial new revenue stream Dianne Watts – such as a vehicle levy, road pricing or a higher carbon tax – just ahead of next spring’s provincial election and predict the decision simply stalls a final vote on killing the tax until March. “Who in their right mind would go into an election promising road pricing?” asked Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan.
EDITION
Pick of the patch
EVAN SEAL / THE LEADER
Jonah Jose, 4, picked out his favourite pumpkin at Rondriso Farms on 172 Street in Cloverdale Friday afternoon.
the number of students attending Surrey and White Rock public schools has dropped. Figures for kindergarten to Grade 12 enrolment this fall show there are 72 fewer kids than this time last year. Surrey remains the largest school district in B.C. with 70,172 students, but had 70,244 last September. In a city where growth has been rampant – the city estimates approximately 12,000 new citizens move to Surrey annually – the enrolment decrease is surprising for school officials, who were expecting an increase of about 195 students. “It’s really too Laurae McNally early to even speculate where they (the students) are,” said Laurae McNally, chair of the Surrey Board of Education. She said significant growth continues in schools in the east of the city, such as Cloverdale and the Clayton neighbourhood, as well as in the South Surrey, in areas such as
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