The Provincial Deficit Recovery Plan: How It Will Impact Wolf Creek Public Schools
On August 27, 2009 the Minister of Education advised school boards across the Province that their operating budgets for the 2009-2010 school year would be reduced to offset a portion of the Provincial deficit.
A deficit recovery plan had been anticipated by the Board of Trustees for Wolf Creek Public Schools, so a process was already in progress to ensure that any “in-year” adjustments would have minimal impact on the educational environments at the school sites. Part of that process involved an in-depth analysis of all budgets in the school division and what rationale existed for considering a reduction in their funding structure. At the conclusion of that exercise the Board agreed that all reductions should rightly come from reserves that the Board held for emergency situations such as these, and not from educational programs that benefit students and staff in the jurisdiction.
Media release highlights: The Ministers’ office, in its communication to school boards, stated that it was going to follow a similar tact, but was planning to target a percentage of “operating reserves” from those school divisions that had maintained funds for various ongoing and emergent projects.
As a result, the final impact on Wolf Creek Public Schools will be double what was anticipated in the Board and senior administration deliberations.
In Wolf Creek, this reduction in funding is approximately one million dollars and poses the potential to seriously disrupt the educational operations of the division...
Based on its recognition of this potential impact, the Board decided instead to reduce two operating reserves that are under its direct control and forego any impact on all other reserve funds. This allows for programs in progress to be completed as originally intended.
...the deficit recovery plan devised by the Board for Wolf Creek Public Schools will tap the unallocated reserves that are held for emergency situations, and a Board and System reserve designed to provide for maintenance and programs at the central office. In the first case the emergency fund will be reduced from one million dollars to approximately $250,000, while the Board and System fund for ongoing maintenance of the Central Office will be reduced from $550,000 to $300,000. |
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