Niagara Catholic budget still on track

Niagara Catholic’s one-week lockout of its elementary teachers in March cost it about $1 million in funding. The grant loss, however, was offset by a reduction in pay to teachers. “We’re still trending toward a balanced portfolio,” financial services superintendent Giancarlo Vetrone told Niagara Catholic District School Board trustees this week. Looking ahead to the 2017-18 term, Vetrone outlined future spending: modest wage and benefits increases; more staffing for special education; class size investment for full-day kindergarten and over the next five years for grades 4 to 8; an education technology service move to St. Thomas Centre in St. Catharines; greenhouse gas reduction; support funding for Indigenous education; and, an artificial turf field in Niagara Falls shared with that city.