Board covers $535,000 deficit with operating reserves

By Rob Vogt, Local Press Writer

The Livingstone Range School Division board of trustees will use operating reserves to cover an anticipated and planned deficit of just over $535,000.

At its May 22 meeting the school board approved its 2018-2019 budget, presented by Jeff Perry, the division’s associate superintendent for business services.

He said Alberta Education did not change grant funding rates.

“This budget has been built on no increase to revenue,” Perry said.

The deficit, totalling $535,281 will come from:

• $224,799, from planned use of instructional operating reserves;
• $73,567, from planned use of business and system administration operating reserves;
• $129,653, from planned use of transportation operating reserves;
• $107,262, from administration building amortization offset by investment in capital assets.

The First Nations tuition calculation is based on tuition agreements with First nations authorities.

Classroom Improvement Funds have continued for 2018-2019 and are used to support the division’s numeracy coordinator, behaviour specialist teacher and assistant, additional school staffing, and allocations to schools to add staff to support complex needs.

Nutrition funds also continued and increased to support nutritional programs at the schools.

Enrollment continued to decline, approximately 29 full-time equivalent students.

Due to no increase in funding, this budget also does not contain salary adjustments, that is raises.

The budget anticipates revenues of $52,493,282 and expenditures of $53,028,563, resulting in that projected deficit of $535,281.

The expenses break down to $1,945,194 for early childhood services instruction; $37,832,672 for Grades 1 to 12 instruction; $8,048,536 for operations and maintenance; $3,372,750 for transportation; and $1,829,411 for administration, for total expenses of $53,486,372.

There are projected to be 6.8 fewer full-time equivalent teaching positions, going from 227.4  to 220.6, and a decrease of 0.6 full-time equivalent staff positions.

There are significant business and financial risks.

Those include the uncertainty related to on-going negotiations with the Alberta Teacher Association and Canadian Union of Public Employees; increasing costs in the transportation area, such as fuel, repairs, purchasing buses, contracted services, along with fewer students riding the bus, results in an anticipated deficit in the transportation area; and enrollment is anticipated to continue to decline over the next few years.