Chinook's Edge School Division will work to correct a $3.5-million shortfall in instructional and administration funding as it prepares its 2013-2014 budget, say officials.
School division treasurer Susan Roy presented the outlook to trustees at the school board's regular meeting on April 3.
She explained that the division is currently using $1.5 million from its reserves to fund the current school year. If that entire amount is used, it will be all gone. She also explained that instructional grants coming from Alberta Education will be $2 million less in the coming school year.
In order to address the shortfall, administration will look at $2 million reduction of allocations out to schools in terms of teachers and flex staff. They'll also look to save another $350,000 by reducing funds used to create collaborative time.
“We're looking at other ways of providing collaboration time for teachers,” Roy said.
The division will also explore $280,000 of division office reductions. That means the elimination of some administration support staff and division principals.
The division will also look to save $135,000 by reducing technological services staff. The division will also look to reallocate $50,000 of its First Nations, Métis and Inuit Education funding and will consider a $750,000 reduction in teacher costs.
When considering transportation, facilities and maintenance, cuts from the provincial government amount to an additional $1.2-million shortfall for Chinook's Edge in 2013-2014.
“Unfortunately not a very good news story, but we'll have to deal with it the best we can,” school board chair Colleen Butler said.
The board is expected to pass its final budget for 2013-2014 in June.
In other news, the board of trustees has voiced support for a proposed labour agreement reached between the province and the Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA).
Following an in-camera discussion during its regular board meeting on April 3, trustees carried a motion stating it would support, in principle, the framework agreement.
The proposed four-year agreement sees teachers' salaries frozen for three years before they would receive a one per cent increase in 2015 and a one-time, lump-sum payment of one per cent of their annual salary in the same year.
The proposed agreement also includes a 907-hour-per-year cap on the time a teacher instructs.
The ATA recommended that teachers accept the new agreement. The Alberta School Boards Association took no stance. Its members were divided between the cost-certainty of a long-term deal and the challenges posed by limits on instruction time.
Meanwhile, board chair Butler will write a letter to the minister of education expressing concern over the impact of Alberta Distance Learning Centre (ADLC) funding cuts revealed in the recent provincial budget.
Chinook's Edge sees the role of the ADLC as vital in supporting school goals to provide “anywhere, anytime, any-pace education.”
The cuts mean a $386,989 reduction of funding for ADLC within Chinook's Edge.
