The first SRSD public meeting of 2024 kicked off on January 9 and trustees and senior admin wasted no time in addressing potential financial cuts and clawbacks.
“We need to cut about $4 million out of our budget right now just to get to zero,” trustee Van Osch explained. “So we have a choice. We can start looking at programs or we could lay off 40 full-time equivalent positions, which I don’t think is going to happen because it’s not going to make our school division feasible. So we have to look at programs.”
The first programs recommended for discussion were Kids at Play (KAP), Kindergarten to Grade 4 bussing, the divisional music program, and extracurricular activities.
A motion was presented to the board which recommended that KAP be discontinued as of June 30 unless the province introduces funding for 100 percent of the costs associated with the program.
KAP
KAP is a program that runs as an adjunct to Kindergarten programming in SRSD and affects approximately 350 of the division’s students. In late fall, a board decision to begin charging parents for the program was reversed when it received significant pushback.
According to Van Osch, KAP is the division’s single biggest expenditure, representing one-quarter of the financial reductions that need to be made. And yet, he added, it’s used by only a small fraction of their total student body.
Another board member pointed to the value of the program, suggesting that the financial investment into students in their early years could equate to the division requiring fewer resources down the road.
Bringing it back full circle, a third trustee reminded the committee that, while every program has merit, something has to go.
“Being short $3 to $4 million now becomes $5 to $6 million next year,” he said. “If we don’t make any cuts, it’ll be $7 to $8 million the next year. We have to make cuts sooner or later.”
In the end, a majority vote resulted in the decision about KAP being deferred until the results of the public survey are in—and until they’ve heard the province’s position on providing additional funding.
School Carryovers on Grounds Funds
Trustees were provided with a lengthy report on the financial standing of each school’s surplus funds, specifically in regard to money the division has allocated to them for grounds upgrades and maintenance.
Traditionally, schools have been allowed to carry over these surplus funds year after year, allowing them to build until such a day when larger expenditures are needed.
In some cases, parent advisory councils work alongside school admin to raise additional funds that are added to the grounds surplus savings when there is a specific goal in mind.
On January 9, it was reported to the board that all but one of the division’s 15 schools were holding surplus funds—funds which could, in fact, help reduce the divisional deficit.
The total carryover from all schools came to almost $135,000, of which approximately $50,000 was designated by schools for specific projects.
“I will speak quite honestly,” trustee Bergson told the board. “It has actually been a voiced concern of PACs that we would claw it back and they’re truly concerned about all of the work that they’ve been putting in just for [it to be] returned.”
School by school, the surplus funds ranged from $3,000 to $33,000. Many had no specific plans in place for the funds or, at least, no projects for which a cost analysis had been performed.
After much deliberation, it was determined that five of the schools who had specific goals for the surplus monies would be allowed to keep their surplus. The remaining schools would return their surplus to the division.
For École St. Adolphe, this they will be able to use almost $10,000 in surplus funds for a planned grounds drainage project.
Dawson Trail School will maintain nearly $4,000 in division funds and continue working together with their PAC towards the purchase of disk swings.
Ste. Anne Collegiate will keep their surplus of $9,000 and, together with the Ste. Anne elementary school, work towards better signage and benches for both schools.
Finally, Ste. Anne Immersion can continue to build towards their planned accessible playground with the $22,000 in their surplus fund. With the additional $35,500 in fundraising by their PAC, the school was very near their goal.
Fuel Budget Cuts
In preparation for the public meeting, the finance department was asked to review the division’s fuel costs in order to determine whether cutbacks were possible there.
The finance representative noted that, historically speaking, divisional fuel costs have been on a steady upward trajectory year after year, with the exception of the COVID-19 years.
Using actual mileage stats from the 2022 fiscal year, the division’s estimated fuel costs going forward would come to nearly $874,000. The amount budgeted for fuel during this period was $785,000, resulting in another expected shortfall.
For this reason, it was concluded that fuel is not an item where cost-saving measures can be implemented, at least in the short term.
