toronto catholic district school board budget consultation meeting catholic education centre may 5,...

Toronto Catholic District School Board

Budget Consultation MeetingCatholic Education Centre

May 5, 2008

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Budget Consultation Meeting May 5, 2008

Agenda

Background Accumulated deficit in 2006-07 and the Special

Assistance Team’s Recommendation Declining Enrolment 2008-09 Budget Position Actions recommended to eliminate the remaining deficit

and balance the 2008-09 Budget per legislation Program Changes Additional Considerations Conclusion

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Background

• The Learning Opportunity Grant (LOG) was introduced to support boards in offering a wide range of locally determined programs for students with a higher risk of academic difficulty

• In 2003-04 the Board received $12.9M for LOG and implemented a number of new programs and expanded others i.e. 5th Block, Junior Literacy Intervention (JLI), Full Day Kindergarten Pilot, Professional Learning Network (PLN), etc.

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Background contd.,

• Changes in the funding formula introduced by the Ministry in 2006-07 resulted in TCDSB receiving $11.5M less in LOG funding due to a reallocation of a portion of this grant to fund the Teacher Salary Gap. However, in spite of this reallocation the salary gap was not fully funded at TCDSB. Reinstatement of this loss in LOG is not expected.

• As a result of this loss in LOG funding, unfunded salary gap, decline in enrolment and other budget pressures the Board was left in a serious deficit position of $34.4M at the beginning of 2006-07.

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Accumulated Deficit and the SAT Recommendations

• It was impossible for the Board to make reductions in the amount of $34.4M in 2006-07

• The Ministry of Education sent in a Special Assistance Team (SAT) to review the Board’s finances and on November 30,2006 they recommended a 3 year Deficit Management Plan to eliminate this accumulated deficit

• The SAT Plan covered the fiscal years 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09 and a number of reductions were recommended in each of the 3 years

• After making the reductions recommended by the SAT for 2006-07, the accumulated deficit was reduced to $16.7M at the end of 2006-07

• The SAT projected that at the end of the 3 year period, 2008-09, after all the reductions recommended were made, the Board would be in a positive position and be able to submit a balanced 2008-09 Budget

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Declining Enrolment

• TCDSB has been experiencing declining enrolment for the past few years

• For 2008-09 the average daily enrolment (ADE) is projected to drop by 899 net. (Elementary 1,311 decrease & Secondary 412 increase)

• As the Ministry’s Funding Model is based on enrolment, drop in enrolment equals reduction in grants and accordingly relative expenditure reductions of $5.8M have to be made, in 2008-09, to address the enrolment decline

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2008-09 Budget Position

• After balancing the current year 2007-08 position, an in year surplus of $2.7M is projected. This in year surplus is applied to the accumulated deficit to reduce it to ($14.0M), [$16.7M-$2.7M]

• According to the 3 year deficit management plan, the Ministry’s expectation is that TCDSB balances its 2008-09 Budget as required by the Education Act.

• To address the 2008-09 projected decline in enrolment of 899 net. reductions in relevant expenditures are required to match the reduction in Grant

• Therefore, the expenditure reductions are required as follows:

Elementary Teachers ($7.1M) Support Staff * ($1.5M) Reduced Occasional Teachers projection ($0.9M) Increase in expenditure for Secondary Teachers due to enrolment increase $2.8MTotal reductions required due to enrolment changes ($6.7M)

• By applying the above reductions, the accumulated deficit is now reduced to ($7.3M) [$14.0M-$6.7M]

* Support Staff includes Education Assistants, Paraprofessionals, Teacher Consultants, Administration & School Operations,

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Actions recommended to eliminate the remaining accumulated deficit of ($7.3M) and balance the 2008-09 Budget

• All expenditure categories were reviewed and assessed. Some categories are already in a deficit position, such as Facilities Maintenance & Repairs ($2.9M) and Transportation ($3.5M).

• TCDSB has approximately 20 closed schools and unless these schools are disposed they continue to be a strain on resources

• Failure to address cuts in a permanent approach will only cause a doubling of the deficit in subsequent years and reduce the Board’s ability to address new higher priority needs

• Small schools continue to be a financial drain on the resources of TCDSB

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Program changes

• The proposed program reductions were selected because there are some counter balances in supports provided for other early learning programs such as:

- Primary Class Size Reduction (PCSR) which provides for 172.5 additionalelementary teachers, since 2004/05, to comply with the Ministry’s primary class size reduction

- Ontario Focused Intervention Partnership (OFIP) which provides 4 levels of Intervention support in 38 schools. Additional resources are provided in 22 schools in the primary division and 49 schools in the junior division

- Best Start Program

- Parenting and Family Literacy Centres

- Welcome to Kindergarten Program

• The reductions in programs to individual schools were based on research and consistent criteriaensuring that the neediest schools would continue to receive support

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Additional Considerations

• The Programs identified for potential reductions are as follows:

- Professional Learning Networks (PLN) elementary & secondary - the concept is favoured by the Ministry but not currently funded

- 5th Block Literacy – grades 1&2- is an early literacy intervention program provided in 82 schools for

students in grades 1&2 who need additional support in developing beginning reading skills. The program would continue in 50 schools in 2008-09

- Junior Literacy Intervention – grades 4&5- is an early literacy intervention program provided in 43 schools for

students in grades 4&5 who need additional support in developing reading fluency and comprehension. The program would continue in 27 schools in 2008-09

- Full Day Senior Kindergarten - the Board has approved this program over the past 4 years which

operates in 7 schools with a total of 15 classes. This program is currently not being offered in other English Boards because of lack of funding

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Conclusion

• Although no final decisions have been made and the Board of Trustees has not approved the 2008-09 Budget, it has been necessary to initiate surplus and layoff notices to staff by May 15, 2008 in order to comply with collective agreement timeframes and the Employment Standards Act.

• Final approval of the Budget will occur in June as the Ministry’s deadline for submission of the balanced budget is June 30, 2008

• We continue to remain hopeful that a number of favourable factors will ease the current situation, such as:

Our share of yet unallocated grantsAn increase in the number of retirementsAn increase in the number of leaves of absence

• The following cost pressures could negatively impact TCDSB:

Increased cost of UtilitiesContinued declining enrolmentAgeing Technology, both hardware and software, IT infrastructure State of the economy in Ontario

toronto catholic district school board budget consultation meeting catholic education centre may 5,...

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