Holy Trinity Roman Catholic School Division will have a balanced budget for the 2020-21 school year, while a small increase in grant funding will help it address increases in student enrolment.
Division administration presented the operating budget to trustees during their recent board of education meeting. Trustees approved the budget, which will see revenues of more than $26 million and expenses of $25.8 million. With other expenses factored in — such as long-term debt, capital repayment and pandemic-related issues — the division expects to have a surplus of $412.
“It’s a nice number for us,” remarked education director Sean Chase, who noted it’s also a pleasure to have a balanced budget.
One of the significant challenges school divisions have faced recently is determining how much money they saved with the suspension of classes during the pandemic, he said. Holy Trinity has estimated it saved about $350,000 during the last three months; however, it won’t be able to quantify the exact figure until the end of the summer when its budget year finishes.
The other challenge the education sector faces is ensuring it has contingency plans in place for the resumption of school in the fall. This includes ensuring staff remain healthy, using additional technology to teach students if necessary, and enhancing cleaning protocols with the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and additional janitorial work.
Chase highlighted some aspects of next year’s budget:
- extra funding to address an enrolment increase of 1.4 per cent;
- additional funding to meet the new teachers’ collective bargaining agreement, which includes an increase of two per cent next year;
- $225,000 through the federal Climate Action Initiative Fund to address projects such as the installation of LED lights and upgrades to schools’ HVAC systems; and
- a refresh in technology next year, including the purchase of more Chrome books, the implementation of a digital student information system, the replacement of SMART boards with large-screen TVs, and installing wireless connectors in each classroom so teachers and students can project images onto the TVs from their devices.
“This (wireless connector initiative) will help us advance some of the learning plans we have for students,” Chase said.
Another highlight is allocating additional classrooms and money to the joint-use school project in Swift Current. The division expects those classrooms to open in the late fall or early winter.
During the recent provincial budget, the minister of education provided additional revenue to school divisions in Saskatchewan. Holy Trinity received $870,000, which it will use to address many of the initiatives mentioned above. Some of that money will also go toward student support services and helping students who need additional support, and to support staffing in schools.
The next Holy Trinity board of education meeting is in August.
