School District #27 (SD27) revealed its budget for the upcoming school year at its board meeting held at Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School in 100 Mile House on May 28.
SD27 secretary-treasurer Bonnie Roller Routley presented the details, but noted the budget is not official until the board releases it on June 25.
Routley said the SD27 has been using surplus funds to balance the budget for the past two or three years, but the board is determined not to continue this practice.
This decision reflects numerous public comments collected during last year’s Initial Options Report (IOR) consultations, she added.
“But, we also want to make sure we are maintaining the integrity of the district infrastructure and of all the educational programs….”
Routley outlined what some of the challenges were in balancing the budget.
This past school year saw $1.8 million spent from surplus funds, but she noted going forward, SD27 will continue to be in funding protection with a drop of 1.5 per cent each year.
“As reported in the IOR in the fall of 2012, the school district had a structural deficit of $1.8 million. Additionally, SD27 would lose revenue from the ministry [due to funding protection] in 2013/14 of 1.5 per cent – about $782,000.”
This leaves SD27 with a budget challenge of $2.6 million, Routley said.
She noted the significant savings identified in the comprehensive IOR plan, which closed four schools and reconfigured others, results in cost reductions of $1.242 million.
“So, to balance the 2013/14 budget, an additional $1.4 million in savings is required.”
Routley added SD27 is “very close” to finding the remaining money, some of which will be made up from salary decreases resulting from the reconfigurations and closures.
Budgeted expenses covered in the presentation were $37 million in salaries and another $9 million in benefits for the upcoming year.
“This is about 86-87 per cent of the overall budget … so [we have] very little control when it comes to finding money that doesn’t affect staffing.”
“The main changes to the budget are a decrease of $1.6 million in salaries, due generally to enrolment decline, and the economies we’ve made with all the reconfigurations in the district.”
The savings of $521,000 were found in the service-and-supply budget, with reduced utilities and general supplies budgets providing about $200,000 each, plus $120,000 from services, including travel, professional development and other areas.
“At this stage, we are about $300,000 short on the budget side which means we must increase our revenue.”
The district will be increasing its revenue with surplus from the past several years of benefit usage, she explained, which includes extended health and dental services, by withdrawing $300,000 from this fund.
While the district also had a small decrease of $60,000 in the area of employee benefits, she added that included increases to Teachers Pension Plan contributions and Medical Services Plan (MSP).
“The fund remains in great standing and will continue to provide a great benefit package to our employees.”
These savings total $2.181 million, which Routley said includes the $1.242 million from the IOR.
Other improvements in the financial picture include adding $30,000 from reducing off-season school bus fleet insurance to storage-only, $20,000 from miscellaneous general revenue, and an increased investment income of $35,000 from investing its reserves with the province, rather than privately.
At the end of the day, the overall budget revenue and expenses leaves a small, $8,643 difference, which she explained is the difference between Capital Asset and Capital Funding amortizations calculated by the ministry.
“Although it makes our budget appear out of balance, this total is cleared at the ministry level.”
Routley noted the goal this year was to prepare a balanced budget that did not rely on any prior years’ surplus for the 2013/14 fiscal year.
“The district met this goal and will be submitting a balanced budget of $60,730,052 to the ministry.”
