English public board approves budget for 2016-2017

The Board of Trustees of District School Board Ontario North East has approved a budget of $120,596,810 for the new school year.

“We are very pleased to be able to arrive at a compliant budget for the 2016/17 school year,” says Superintendent of Business, Pearl Fong-West.

“We continue to face a decline in enrolment, from a population of 11,579.53 students, when our Board first amalgamated in 1998-99, to a projected enrolment in 2016-17 of 6,650.25. Our Ministry allocation is down, but we will continue to be able to maintain all of the programming we have in place.”

There will be new priorities in 2016-17, including an investment in a First Nation, Metis, and Inuit Education Lead for the Board. As well, the 1:1 iPad program will see iPads distributed to 1,434 Grade 5 to 7 students in September 2016 and 449 iPads distributed to Grade 3 and 4 classrooms. During the 2016-17 year, a further 800 iPads will be purchased for the Grade 5 students, new students entering our Board in Grade 5 to 12 and to increase the Grade 3 and 4 from 2:1 to 1:1. “By the 2017-2018 school year, students from Grade 3 through Grade 12 will have their own personal iPad,” added Fong-West.

Salary increases in 2016-17 will be funded by an increases in the salary benchmarks for teaching and non-teaching staff of 1.25 percent for the entire 2016-17 school year.

The Operating Budget represents a compliant budget but not a balanced budget. The total operating expense budget is $120,596,810. The total operating revenue budget is $120,120,791, resulting in an in-year deficit of $476,019. The Capital Budget for 2016-17 amounted to $7,123,820.

“I congratulate Board staff for their hard work, both for their efforts in keeping the budget in line and for ensuring it was prepared in time for thorough review by the Trustees,” said Board Chair Doug Shearer. “Clearly there will continue to be a need for careful management and review again in the coming year.”