Trustees with Prairie South School Division have approved a revised 2021-22 budget after the Ministry of Education asked the organization to change three items.
During a special meeting recently, the board approved an updated budget that included $93,171,873 in revenues, $90,819, 201 in expenses, $2,352,672 in surplus, and $11,095,006 in capital purchases.
In comparison, in May the board approved a budget with revenues of $93,149,219, expenses of $90,796,547, a surplus of $2,352,672 and capital purchases of $9,861,542.
Business superintendent Ron Purdy told trustees that these changes do not affect the school division’s bottom line or its surplus.
The first change sees Prairie South add its internet subscription of $447,654 to its grant revenues and instruction expense categories. Purdy explained that the ministry paid for this in the past, but it was “always off to the side somewhere,” and the school division never saw it.
“So, they said that’s part of the cost of education, and they wanted it to be in our budget as a revenue and expense,” he said.
The second change was for PSSD to remove $425,000 of federal Climate Action Incentive Fund (CAIF) money from its grant revenues and buildings expenses.
The division reported this funding as a budget variance last year since staff didn’t know whether it would come, while they put it in this year’s budget thinking they wouldn’t have to explain it, said Purdy. However, the province hasn’t negotiated with the federal government for this money and instructed the division to remove it.
The ministry’s third request was for PSSD to show all its unspent funds for the new joint-use school as planned spending and a cash draw in 2021-22. This would increase capital expenses to more than $11 million and cash draw to $4,504,159, compared to $9,861,542 and $3.2 million previously, respectively.
Division administration inserted its desired cash draw grant funding into the budget for 2021-22 since the land for the new school isn’t guaranteed and division officials don’t know where the building will be constructed, claimed Purdy.
“I don’t know that we’ll actually spend that ($4.5 million). It’s really hard to say until we have our land and we have some kind of schedule for construction,” he added.
The ministry has not normally asked Prairie South to revise its budget, Purdy told trustees. So while the internet request is new, it makes sense since it’s part of the division’s costs.
Trustee Lew Young was concerned about some of these changes and wondered if the division missed an email or other important information from the ministry. He also wondered if they needed to hire a dedicated chief financial officer (CFO) and inform the auditors about these budgetary changes.
No emails were missed, while the inclusion of the CAIF funding was a judgment call with which the province disagreed, said Purdy.
Purdy added that the auditors aren’t aware of these changes since they handle year-end finances. However, the division office can make them aware of this situation.
“I completely understand what Lew is saying. This does seem to be a little out of the norm for a conversation back and forth with the ministry,” said trustee Crystal Froese. “But they have to put their stamp on it for us to move forward, so I don’t see anything that would hold us back from doing that.”
Trustee Shawn Davidson, president of the Saskatchewan School Boards Association, echoed Purdy’s comments and noted it’s common for the ministry to ask divisions to change something.
The next PSSD board meeting is Tuesday, Oct. 5.
