Parents with children who attend school in the Rocky View Schools (RVS) division received a letter on Nov. 14 that informed families of a $10 million budget shortfall for the 2019/20 school year.
Fiona Gilbert, chair of RVS’s board of trustees, said the board is required to submit a balanced budget every spring. Last spring, the board made “budget assumptions” that included the expectation that enrolment growth would be funded. Gilbert said they were conservative in their growth estimate.
In response to the shortfall, the board’s administration is recommending a fall budget proposal that will withdraw $4.3 million from the central reserves and $1 million from the school reserves. This will include reducing the board’s Airdrie Education Centre budget by $1.5 million and school budget by $1.8 million.
If approved by the board, administrators will be asked to reduce their spring budgets by $40/student. This will generate $1 million toward the board’s revenue shortfall.
Gilbert says budget reductions could range from $5,800 to $43,300 depending on the size of the school.
“Depending on the school, and the decision made by the principal, this could look like not being able to purchase new sports equipment for physical education, books for the learning commons or classrooms, or technology and other resources for students to use,” Gilbert said.
The shortfall was identified after the UCP government released their first budget on Oct. 24. The board attributes the shortfall to the elimination of Alberta’s class size grants and school and transportation fee replacement grants.
The letters says that the shortfall has caused some “angst” within the communities served by the board. The board assures parents that the Board of Trustees intends to minimize the impact of this budget shortfall on students.
The board directed their administration to prepare a fall budget that addresses the shortfall by utilizing system and school reserves, avoiding mid-year staffing reductions and introducing additional student transportation fees to offset the loss of the government’s transportation fee replacement grant.
To offset the $1.4 million transportation shortfall the board approved the implementation of a $308 fee applicable to riders who attend their designated school and live 2.4 kilometres or further from that school.
Gilbert said the board supports the use of operational reserves to lessen the impact of this budget on students and student learning.
“Reserves should be used for one-time unexpected costs and emergencies (and) not budget shortfalls. So while not ideal, the board understands that the use of reserves at this time is necessary.”
In preparation for next year, the government advised the board to expect a new funding framework to be in place. Gilbert said the board doesn’t know what this framework will look like or how the government will be allocating their grants and money to the school boards.
“We do know that provincially, for the next few years, the total amount of dollars spent on public education will remain the same as this year, at $8.2 billion,” Gilbert said.
“The board will be reaching out to parents, school councils and school communities in coming months to help establish budget priorities for next year in preparation for what is expected to be a challenging 2020/21 budget.”
