For the second time in two years, administrators and board members of the Seine River School Division (SRSD) have publicly admitting to a significant error affecting their budget. 

This time around, though, things are looking much more optimistic.

“A recent review of our financials identified a miscalculation in some projected figures in this current year’s budget,” says a recently released statement from the school division. “These projections, which were developed under previous leadership, were found to be inaccurate. With corrected data now in place, the division is on track to eliminate its deficit this year and is instead trending toward a modest surplus.”

In summer of 2023, a budgeting error was discovered by an incoming secretary treasurer that shocked division administration. Instead of facing a surplus, as expected, they were told that a $1.3 million deficit was the real story. If they proceeded as usual, the deficit would grow to over $5 million by the end of the 2023–24 school year.

In the following months, the trustee board and administration jumped into action, involving the province and setting about making deep cuts through a new austerity budget.

If all went as hoped, the deficit could be eliminated within three years’ time.

Now, with the discovery of the latest error, the deficit has been cleared a full two years sooner than expected.

“This one was simply a miscalculation that was put into the budget that wasn’t caught before the budget was passed last year,” Bloomfield says.

Had it been caught earlier, she says some unnecessary cuts to staffing and programming could have been avoided. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

In both instances, when the errors were revealed through a public statement, references were made to the errors occurring under previous leadership.

According to Bloomfield, school budget creation is a collaborative springtime effort between the secretary treasurer and superintendent. Once completed, the budget goes before the board of trustees for discussion and approval.

But the administrative shakeup the division has been through in the past years may have some bearing on what’s going on.

In 2023, Amanda Senkowski was hired by the division for the position of secretary treasurer. Superintendent Ryan Anderson had been on the job for one year at that point. 

It was Senkowski who discovered the massive deficit issue in July 2023. 

In spring of 2024, Anderson resigned his position. The division didn’t find another superintendent to replace him until Colin Campbell arrived in December 2024.

In January 2025, Senkowski left her post and was replaced by incoming Karastin Michalycia.

 It was Michalycia and Campbell who discovered the most recent error. 

“The new people had come in and it was right in the middle of passing the budget,” says Bloomfield. “They started delving into things to learn more about the division, then discovered the error.”

While the second surprising discovery indicates a modest surplus, Bloomfield says it won’t be used to reinstate programming that was cut, such as division-funded bussing or the Kids at Play program.

That’s because the surplus is finite, she says, and cannot be used for programs that require ongoing funding. 

“In the austerity year, we deferred a bus purchase, so we have authorized two new bus purchases. We’re looking at other [things] but there’s been no decisions made.”

Bloomfield admits it wasn’t easy for the division administration or board to publicize their budget error the first time around, let alone the second. 

“At the end of the day, it’s hard to [admit], but we just wanted to be transparent that the error was made. We came clean with the Minister of Education and we came clean with our communities, our parents, and our staff. We feel that that’s the only way.”