Holy Trinity Catholic School Division has approved its amended 2023-24 budget, which includes $494,166 in provincial funding to support enrolment growth and classroom challenges and overall revenue growth of 2.4 per cent.
Division trustees had originally approved next year’s budget in May. However, the Ministry of Education announced in June that it would provide $40 million to help the province’s 27 school divisions address their challenges.
The province gave Holy Trinity $208,206 for classroom complexity and $285,960 for enrolment growth.
Trustees discussed the updated budget recently and approved it.
Before the provincial announcement, Holy Trinity had budgeted revenues and expenses next year at $27,825,824 and full-time equivalent (FTE) staff levels at 253.01, according to a board report. After receiving the additional funding, projected revenues and expenses are now at $28,460,784 and expected FTE staffing levels are 256.51.
Therefore, this amounts to year-over-year increases, respectively, of $673,587 (2.4 per cent), $1,100,847 (four per cent) and 8.58 FTE (3.5 per cent).
Meanwhile, the division expects to receive $11,125,000 in capital funding next year, which is $375,000 — or 3.5 per cent — more than this year. Its projected capital expenses are $11,724,434, which is $395,185 — or 3.5 per cent — more than this year.
One notable decrease is funding for preventative maintenance and renewal (PMR) projects, which focus on upgrading schools. Funding next year is $541,351, compared to $595,078 this year, a drop of $53,727 or 9.1 per cent.
Holy Trinity will use the classroom complexity money to hire one FTE interventionist, two FTE educational assistants (EAs), an extra contracted educational psychologist, and for professional development of EAs serving students with complex needs, explained CFO Curt Van Parys.
Meanwhile, the division plans to proportionally distribute the enrolment funding across the categories of instruction ($237,630), plant operations and maintenance ($37,805) and transportation ($10,525), he continued. The division may make further allocations to address any unexpected growth in student numbers.
“We definitely are feeling it in terms of additional supports that our schools are requesting, particularly in the educational assistant world,” Van Parys remarked. “And also, (there) is some additional opportunity within instruction to help our schools manage the phys-ed programming for our elementary schools.”
Van Parys was confident the division would receive the enrolment money since the division is already at 2,400 registered students compared to the projection of 2,346.
Next year’s budget supports the board’s three priorities of learning, human resources and technology, the CFO continued.
With learning, the budget focuses on literacy and numeracy; mental health and well-being of staff and students, including maintaining a wellness coach; supporting the YMCA’s early learning centres; supporting professional learning; and enhancing educational psychology services.
With human resources, the budget aims to keep the pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) at 22:1 for grades 1 to 3, 26:1 for grades 4 to 6, and 27:1 for grades 7 and 8. Furthermore, the division will continue its focus on safety training, such as CPR and First Aid, mental health first aid, suicide prevention, violence assessment, and crisis intervention.
The organization is also preparing for the start of collective bargaining with the provincial teachers’ union this August; collective bargaining with the local union next August; bargaining with Swift Current and Shaunavon staff next year; and negotiations with the local teachers’ association in 2027.
With technology, the division plans to implement an analytics data tool to help analyze assessment data; continue using three software programs; continue purchasing new Chromebooks for Grade 9s at Vanier Collegiate; upgrade server infrastructure; purchase more interactive touch TVs for kindergarten to Grade 3 classrooms; and restructure the budget to support a multi-year tech plan.
Holy Trinity expects to receive $8,625,000 for the joint-use school project, which has ballooned to $65,766,000 from $46,931,000, Van Parys added. Meanwhile, the division expects to receive $2.5 million for upgrades at École St. Margaret School but plans to ask for more since the overall project is $5.5 million.
