Province claws back $240K from Catholic division over decline in students
The provincial government has reduced funding to Holy Trinity Catholic School Division by about $240,000 because of a decline in students, forcing the division to use other revenues to cover the gap.
The Ministry of Education informed the division during the second quarter of the 2021-22 school year that the funding adjustment — a reduction of $241,698 — would occur with the December 2021 grant payment because student enrolment did not meet expected projections, CFO Curt Van Parys explained during the March board meeting.
However, he added, the good news is the division can accommodate this shortfall by using unassigned budget funds and projected under-expenditures within the governance budget line.
Information about the reduction in grant funding was part of Van Parys’ second-quarter fiscal accountability report that he presented during the March board of education meeting.
Included in the report was a budget amendment that trustees approved. The amendment changed the grant revenue line to $34,903,797 from $34,789,617 to accommodate bus fleet renewal, mental health training opportunities, and reconciliation activities.
The division renewed its bus fleet in October 2021 by purchasing six new propane buses to support three other propane-powered vehicles, said Van Parys. The annual lease cost for these six vehicles will be $176,400.
The division office anticipates that the lease commitment will be funded by an 80-per-cent reduction in repairs and maintenance costs ($49,200), contingency reserve use ($109,285) and operational budget reductions ($17,915). Van Parys proposed that the 2021-22 budget be amended by $100,180 to accommodate the bus lease costs incurred this fiscal year.
Meanwhile, Holy Trinity received two unbudgeted grants during the second quarter, including $9,000 to support mental health training opportunities — violence threat risk assessment (VTRA) and traumatic event systems training — and $5,000 for reconciliation actions.
Van Parys noted that the reconciliation funding “nicely dovetails” with the memorandum of understanding that the division signed recently with New Southern Plains Métis Local 160.
Sometime between March and May, the division expects to receive $215,000 from the provincial government to support an early years family resource centre in Swift Current and $45,000 from the federal government to enhance ventilation systems as part of the Safe Return to Class Fund.
“We’re (also) keeping our fingers crossed that there will be some funding support to cover off the typical substitute costs we’ve incurred as a result of the omicron variant and good old COVID-19,” Van Parys added.