After passing its budget at a special meeting on May 28, St. Paul Education Regional Division (SPERD) is anticipating a deficit of about $400,000 for its 2013-14 year.
The budget is based on an enrolment of 4,063 students and has overall expenses pegged at about $55.5 million, with a deficit of $412,971. A press release from SPERD states that “reductions in provincial support, including the elimination of the Alberta Initiative for School Improvement program and a decrease in Plant Operations and Maintenance, presented several challenges that, while controllable in the short term, will present some long term issues.”
The elimination of the Fuel Price Contingency program is also concerning to the board, and SPERD is encouraging review of funding to this area. The Fuel Price Contingency “Adjusted funding for busing services as fuel prices increased or decreased,” explains secretary-treasurer Jean Champagne, last week. “As prices can fluctuate quite a bit, this is a real concern for ourselves and our bus contractors.”
Champagne says that SPERD is hopeful that the reduction to the Operations and Maintenance funding is also temporary.
“We can defer some items in the short term, but overtime this builds a maintenance backlog.”
Champagne says that the wage freeze agreed to by teachers will help the board financially, however because grants were frozen at current levels, there will be inflation and other cost increases to take into account.
Salaries and benefits make up 80 per cent of SPERD’s budget, says Champagne, so the wage freeze “is significant.” He adds that the division was able to maintain staffing levels overall.
And although a deficit is being projected, Champagne says that $400,000 represents less than one per cent of the budget, which is based on several assumptions.
“There is considerable variability that is possible, linked to enrolment and other factors, so in any given year we would expect at least one per cent difference up or down,” says Champagne. “As a result, the projected deficit is deemed to be acceptable.”
Champagne points to Alberta’s resource economy, which is subject to fluctuations, as a key factor in the effects being felt by the provincial cuts.
“The board has built up reserves in good years to try and smooth out these ups and down in provincial funding,” he explains, adding, “As a result of this planning, we are able to avoid any cuts to classroom services.”
In the press release received from SPERD, Superintendent Glen Brodziak says that overall staffing numbers will remain relatively the same and the division will actually be hiring a number of new teachers because of retirements and leave.
The board had a similar deficit projected in its 2012-13 budget, which pegged the deficit at $419,771, but according to documents from SPERD’s website, the actual budget deficit for 2012-13 was $127,963 and in 2011-12 the division had a surplus of $208,928.
