NESD building in Melfort. (File photo/northeastNOW Staff)

By Aaron Schulze

NESD Budget 2019-20

NESD taking money out of reserves to balance budget

Jun 18, 2019 | 5:30 PM

The North East School Division (NESD) Board of Education approved the budget for the 2019-20 academic year during a meeting June 18, and they’ll be taking money out of reserves to balance it for the third year in a row.

Over $4 million was taken out of the NESD reserves to balance the 2019-20 budget. Nearly $4 million will go to minor renovation projects. Over $2 million going toward L.P. Miller Comprehensive School, Melfort and Unit Comprehensive Collegiate, and Tisdale Middle and Secondary School. A total of $1,500,000 is going to LED light upgrades for all schools within the division that will be paid back over six and a half years due to electricity savings. The budget projects NESD to be up nearly $400,000 after its use of reserves.

Teachers in the NESD will receive a one per cent salary increase on Aug. 31, and transportation costs will increase by nearly $200,000 due to rising fuel costs and the added carbon tax.

Wanda McLeod, the NESD’s superintendent of business administration, said a budget that consistently uses reserves money isn’t sustainable.

“We’re hoping for more funding,” McLeod said. “But if that doesn’t happen we’re going to have to make some tough decisions for the 2020-21 budget. We were hoping it would be a short fall in funding, but it’s turning out to be not the case.”

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The NESD has over $7 million in reserves, plus $1 million in school generated funds that doesn’t get used to balance a budget.

McLeod said the NESD hasn’t decided what kind of tough decisions will need to be made for 2020-21, but will look at it in the fall, so they can prepare the schools in advance if there are any changes at the school level.

The NESD will receive nearly $300,000 more in funding from the provincial government for the 2019-20 academic year compared to 2018-19, but have seen a decrease of nearly $3 million since 2015-16, with an estimated $400,000 decrease due to enrolment decline.

McLeod said budget plans would change if the NESD received more funding in the future, but they’re budgeting for what the current funding situation looks like.

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

@SchulzePANow