As the Vancouver School Board debates which schools to close to save the cash-strapped district money, the Courier has learned the tally for Comptroller General Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland's highly critical report on the board's financial performance neared $165,000.

The figure includes upwards of $98,000 in wages, almost $17,000 in accommodation expenses and more than $15,000 in travel costs.

The Courier obtained the total project cost and its breakdown through a freedom of information request. The detailed information from the Ministry of Finance, office of the comptroller general, arrived Friday.

Ten staff were assigned to conduct the financial review full time. Their wages totalled $98,127.76, with benefits tagged at $23,708.48. Contractor costs were $4,055.

Travel-related costs, including helicopter, floatplane, ferry, taxi and car expenses, added up to $15,378.86. There were 28 ferry trips and 76 flights between April 15 and June 3.

The travel figure breaks down to $11,654 in air costs, $1,093.20 for B.C. ferries, $722.95 for public transit, $401.50 for mileage and $1,507.21 for other costs such as gas, Internet parking and taxis.

The bill for accommodation was $16,737.80 and meal per diem costs totalled $6,354.75. Names of hotels and restaurants were not tracked. Paper and printing fees for printing 10 copies of the report were reported at $48.16.

Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid ordered the report after the VSB complained about money problems, which it blamed on the provincial government. It concluded the district's poor financial position could have been avoided had the board managed its resources properly, while many trustees insist the financial troubles are rooted in chronic underfunding of the education system and downloading of costs.

The $165,000 cost for the financial review is down from the Ministry of Education's June estimate of $175,000, but board chair Patti Bacchus argues it still wasn't worth it.

"I believe it was a politically motivated and appalling waste of public resources at a time when school districts are struggling to meet the needs of students," she said Monday.

Bacchus, a Vision Vancouver trustee, maintains the true cost of the report is higher given the hours VSB staff spent on it. The money, she added, should have been used to stave off cuts to areas such as inner-city junior kindergarten classes, special needs support workers, multicultural liaison workers, school librarians, resource teachers and counsellors.

Bacchus said the report confirmed the education minister had been making inaccurate statements about the VSB's performance. She cited remarks that the VSB spent more on administration than Surrey and that the VSB said there were no further administration cuts to be made when $3 million in proposed cuts were posted in its preliminary budget.

NPA trustee Ken Denike said the report costs are reasonable given the steep learning curve the comptroller general had to climb, but she didn't understand the budget year dates used by the education sector.

"This perhaps led to her preposterous assessment that the board had a large surplus that the board could use when, in fact, most of the surplus was for dedicated expenditures with bills forthcoming," he said.

Denike added that Wenezenki-Yolland's "observations on governance, low morale amongst senior staff and the board's preoccupation with advocacy over good management were spot on."

MacDiarmid maintains the report offers sound advice.

"The comptroller general's report identified millions of dollars in savings that the Vancouver Board of Education can achieve. The report was worthwhile in that it provided concrete measures the board can take to better manage its resources."

noconnor@vancourier.com