Budget 2015/16
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Table of Contents
Prairie Spirit School Division .................................................................................................................. 4
Introduction to the budget process ...................................................................................................... 5
Ongoing supports and services for students ......................................................................................... 6
Investment in programs and infrastructure .......................................................................................... 7
Budget Summary ................................................................................................................................... 8
Revenues ............................................................................................................................................... 9
Operating Expenditures ....................................................................................................................... 10
Staffing Allocation ................................................................................................................................ 11
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Prairie Spirit School Division
Vision:
Learners for Life
Mission:
Learning without limits in a world of possibilities
Prairie Spirit School Division is the progressive urban and rural school division surrounding the City of Saskatoon.
Prairie Spirit covers a wide geographic area, north to Leask, south to Hanley, east to Colonsay and west to Perdue. The school divi-sion includes nine Hutterite and three First Nations communities.
Prairie Spirit is projecting a student enrolment of over 10,900 students in our 45 schools in 28 communities. The Division’s students are served by a team of dedicated professionals and support staff.
Learners for Life
To support the work of schools, Prairie Spirit has developed the Learning for Life framework which encompasses the shared be-liefs and understandings for student and adult learning. This work is supported by high expectations, collaboration and engagement with real world application.
As articulated in the Board’s strategic plan, the learning focus areas for students and adults in Prairie Spirit School Division are:
Saskatoon
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Introduction to the budget process
The provincial budget was presented in the Legislature on March 18, 2015. The provincial Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12 school divi-sion budget provided an increase in total funding of $52.8 million or 2.9% for operating expenditures. The total recognized educa-tion expenses for the province is $1.87 billion.
Prairie Spirit received a net increase in actual operating funding of $3,329,689. The 2015/16 funding increase for Prairie Spirit es-sentially covers the cost of provincially-negotiated teacher salaries, leaving the school division with basically the same funding as last year to cover inflationary costs, ongoing contractual obligations and enrolment increases. The provincial budget revealed that the province will no longer provide funding for enrolment increases. Prairie Spirit is projecting its ninth consecutive year of enrol-ment growth, with an expected increase of over 300 students this fall. Staffing and other costs associated with the addition of 300 students will total over $2 million and will not be funded by the province.
Provincial funding for 2015/16 does not address Prairie Spirit’s $3 million provincial funding shortfall from 2014/15, which was cov-ered through the use of limited reserve funds.
When the new provincial education funding model was introduced In 2012/13, the Ministry provided $3.2 million in transition funding for Prairie Spirit. This funding was reduced to $895,000 for the 2013/14 and 2014/15 years and has now been reduced to $760,000 for 2015/16. In addition, with a major funding component not being implemented through a formula – Locally Deter-mined Teacher Terms and Conditions of Employment – Prairie Spirit is provided one of the lowest per teacher funding levels in the province.
Prairie Spirit is committed to providing meaningful and effective learning opportunities for our students. Adequate funding is re-quired to continue to maintain and improve Prairie Sprit’s student achievement results.
Impact of Funding Shortfall
In response to a total provincial funding shortfall to the school division of over $7 million for 2015/16, the Board of Education made reductions to its budget totaling $4.6 million.
The Board established four budget reduction priorities which were followed in the budget deliberations and reflect the Board’s consistent “student first” approach to decision making. The priorities are: improving student learning; improving adult learning to support student learning; maintaining current staff; and maintaining current class sizes.
The Board approved the following reductions for 2015/16:
Reduction of five leadership and administrative positions at Division Office and three Facilities staff positions
Reduction of Division-based teaching positions focusing on career and work exploration, early learning, student support ser-vices, home-based education and English as an Additional Language
Reassignment of Division Office staff to vacant school-based positions
Reduction in school division staff supporting community day cares (where provincial funding was not provided to the division)
Reduction in Board governance budget
Reduction in Teacher Librarians; staff will be reassigned to classroom teaching positions and others will be transitioned to new Learning Facilitator positions
Reduction of funding for school-based budgets
Reduction of 21.5 Educational Associate positions in schools
Reduction of three vice-principal positions
Combination of small classes, where possible
After making reductions totaling $4.6 million, the Prairie Spirit Board submitted a $2.5 million deficit budget to the Ministry of Edu-cation in June, along with a request for additional provincial funding to balance the budget. To achieve a balanced budget without additional funding would have required significant staff layoffs, resulting in program reductions and larger class sizes.
In response, the Ministry directed Prairie Spirit to use reserve funds to balance the 2015/16 budget. As a result, the Prairie Spirit Board of Education balanced its 2015/16 deficit budget by using unrestricted reserve funds. This is the second consecutive year that Prairie Spirit’s budget has been balanced through the use of reserve funds. These reserves are established for emergent, unex-pected expenses, and are not intended to be used for ongoing operational costs. Once they are used, there are limited opportuni-ties to build reserve funds.
The provincial government has directed a review of the provincial education funding model, the results of which will determine Prairie Spirit’s funding for the 2016/17 budget year. The Board will continue to work with the Ministry to resolve Prairie Spirit’s funding shortfall.
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Ongoing supports and services for students
Enrolment growth in Prairie Spirit For the 2015/16 school year, Prairie Spirit School Division is projecting another increase in enrolment with a projected enrolment of 10,911 (Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12), an increase of 318 students from September 30, 2014 (10,593). This is the ninth consec-utive year of enrolment growth in Prairie Spirit.
Student growth in the Division continues to place challenges on infrastructure within the school division. In partnership with the Ministry of Education, Prairie Spirit is planning additional classroom facilities to meet the increasing demands.
During the 2015/16 school year, the following projects will be underway:
Completion of three new portable classrooms for Valley Manor Elementary School and one new portable classroom for Ven-ture Heights Elementary School, both located in the City of Martensville
Ongoing work on the renovation and expansion project at Martensville High School. This is a community partnership with the City of Martensville. The City constructed the Martensville Athletic Pavilion (MAP), which will be attached to the completed school project. The joint-use partnership will see the city operating the pavilion which houses three full-sized basketball courts and a second floor 200 meter track for running and walking. The school plans include the addition of a theater and expanded program space for PAA and include opportunities for twenty-first century learning spaces.
New joint-use Kindergarten to Grade 8 elementary schools for Warman and Martensville were announced by the premier in 2013. These schools are part of a $450 million P3 construction project for 18 new schools provincially (nine joint-use facilities), along with community use space joining the two schools. It is anticipated that construction on these schools will begin in 2015 and all schools are scheduled to be completed by September 2017. Total investment in Prairie Spirit for 2015/16 will be $33,500,000, funded 100% by the Ministry of Education.
Staffing in Prairie Spirit School Division Changes in the school division’s funding model for the 2015/16 fiscal year resulted in Prairie Spirit reviewing staffing levels at schools to ensure our staffing provides a sustainable way of offering an enriched educational program at the school level.
While working with a net increase in operating funding with most of the increase going towards the new teacher agreement, the Board has committed to staffing schools within the budget priorities framework.
As a result, the Division will be increasing in-school teaching staff by 11.86 FTE (some of the increase includes Division Office staff moving to vacant in-school positions) and decreasing Division-wide supports by 7.90 FTE (Counselling, Learning Support Staff, Speech and Language, EAL and Early Learning). The reduction will not result in any layoffs as the positions are currently unassigned posi-tions (vacant, leaves or retirements) or transfers to in-school positions.
The school division has also reviewed staffing levels for support staff and will reduce Educational Assistant positions by 21.50 FTE, along with changes to staffing for school Administrative Assistants, Library Assistants and Learning Technology by another 1.37 FTE.
Overall, staffing in the Division has been reduced by
27.06 FTE positions (2.02%) to a total of 1,313.43 FTE
staff members for 2015/16.
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Investment in programs and infrastructure
Innovative learning
The Board directed that the budget reflect its support for innovative ways of incorporating real-life learning with academics. The goal is to enhance the work started with the Da Vinci Project, to incorporate opportunities for students who may want to seek skills training and apprenticeship opportunities. An expansion of the philosophy may be supported through additional staffing based on requests at the school level. A total of 1.5 FTE has been allocated to support existing and future opportunities.
Practical and Applied Arts (PAA) Starting in 2011, the Board approved the use of $3.86 million of reserve funds for the enhancement of Practical and Applied Arts (PAA) programming throughout the Division. These funds were used to support equipment and infrastructure upgrades required to ensure the safety, effectiveness and efficiency of PAA programming throughout the Division. Work is continuing to bring the facili-ties and programs up to date to match the curricular needs at each school.
Additional funds will be required to complete the work that was started. The Board will be reviewing reserve funds required to complete the work at the remaining school facilities.
Preventative Maintenance and Renewal (PMR) The Ministry has moved to a new model of supporting school divisions by decentralizing the previous block project funding to cre-ate a new funding model called Preventative Maintenance and Renewal (PMR). School divisions are required to submit a three-year PMR plan to the Ministry and use the funding allocated to complete the division priorities (for example, roof replacements, boiler replacements, structural repairs, etc.). The funds are not for routine maintenance items.
The funding provided is based on the proportion of school division’s total square meters in its facilities relative to the provincial total. Provincially, $27 million is provided to school divisions through PMR, with Prairie Spirit School Division receiving $1,374,056 as its share. This represents an increase of $236,512 over last year. PMR funds require Ministry approval of projects and all surplus funds stay as part of PMR and are not used for operational expenditures.
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Budget Summary
Financial reporting requirements School divisions in Saskatchewan have complied with the Public Sector Accounting Board (PSAB) standards since 2009/10. As a result of the changes in the reporting standards, capital expenditures are now amortized over the useful economic life rather than being fully expensed in the year it is acquired. The result of this change is lower expenses and a higher surplus that will be drawn down as the assets are fully amortized. Budgets are based on a cash-basis to ensure assets are fully funded when amortized in fu-ture years.
Budget management and monitoring In addition to budgets being monitored by each individual budget manager in the school division, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) reviews all accounts to ensure proper recording of transactions. As salaries are the largest expenditure, they are monitored month-ly following each pay day and a projected total is calculated on a quarterly basis as a way to determine the forecasted balance at the end of the fiscal year. This projected total is reported to the Board on a quarterly basis and incorporated into the quarterly financial updates to the Board.
The Board of Education receives quarterly financial updates to ensure Trustees are fully apprised of the current financial position and are aware of any issues that may impact the final financial position at year-end. Significant variances are identified along with any potential budget concerns.
School decentralized budgets Schools are provided an operating budget—referred to as the school’s decentralized budget—to cover the costs of in-school and out-of-school educational programming. Decentralized budgets provide supports for the purchase of educational materials such as textbooks, library resources, paper supplies, photocopier usage, repairs to equipment, purchase of sports equipment/supplies, etc.
For 2015/16, this funding is based on the school’s projected enrolment for September 30, 2015, with a reconciliation that will oc-cur following September 30, to finalize the funding based on the actual enrolment.
Centralized budget The centralized budget is designed to support the Board’s strategic plan and support Division-wide initiatives, such as new curricu-lum implementation, system professional development, technology rollout and Division software licensing and student support services. This budget’s priorities are determined by Learning Superintendents and Coordinators.
Decentralized and centralized budgets must follow a pre-determined set of account codes and descriptions mandated by the Min-istry of Education, to ensure school division expenses can be reliably compared to other school divisions in the province.
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Revenues
Provincially, funding for school divisions in the 2015/16 fiscal year will increase to $1.87 billion from $1.82 billion in 2014/15. School division operating funding is made up of funding from two major sources – education property taxes and provincial operat-ing grants. School divisions also enter into educational partnerships with other school divisions or local First Nations. The break-down of the estimated revenue for Prairie Spirit School Division for the 2015/16 fiscal year is:
Notes:
$33.5 million for capital reflects Ministry funding of two new P3 schools for Martensville and Warman
$2.7 million estimated from tuition agreements with First Nations bands for students who attend school in Prairie Spirit
$2.396 million for funds received through school-generated fundraising and fees
Complementary funding is block funding for the thirteen recognized Pre-Kindergarten programs in eleven of our schools
Property taxes are determined by the Ministry
Operating grants are determined by the Ministry
SGI provides funding for Driver Education ($335,000), which is reflected as operating grants
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Operating Expenditures
Total operating expenditures for 2015/16 are projected to increase by 4.96% over the 2014/15 budget. Total expenditures are esti-mated at just over $116.9 million.
Notes to projected expenditures for 2015/16 included above are:
Amortization expense is a non-cash expense representing the annual cost of an asset acquired. This represents $6.6 million in expenditures which is offset by accumulated surplus. This is an increase of $800,000 over last year.
Acquisition of assets is not part of the operating budget (i.e., new P3 schools).
Repayment of long-term debt (principal - $2.5 million) is not reflected as an Operating Expense; interest is recorded as an ex-pense (other expenses).
Increases for teacher salaries are the results of a new provincial Collective Bargaining agreement. The increase in teacher sala-ries reflects the difference between salary costs budgeted last year using the 2013 salary rates; therefore, the costs appear more significant because of the multi-year retroactive salary changes
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Staffing Allocation
The following is a breakdown of staffing in the various classifications along with the changes from the previous year (2014/15):
Overall, staffing in the Division has been reduced by 27.06 FTE positions (2.02%) to a total of 1,313.43 FTE staff members for
2015/16.
2015/16 2014/15 Change % Change
Administrative Services 21.11 23.00 (1.89) -8.22%
Director & Learning Superintendents 7.00 8.00 (1.00) -12.50%
Coordinators 4.00 5.00 (1.00) -20.00%
School-based (Principal, V-P, Classroom, Counselling, band) 657.69 645.83 11.86 1.84%
Division-based Supports (LSF, Ed. Psych, Speech, OT, Early Learning) 27.70 35.60 (7.90) -22.19%
Educational Associates 275.90 297.40 (21.50) -7.23%
Pre-K Teachers 6.30 6.50 (0.20) -3.08%
School Administrative Assistants 41.00 42.50 (1.50) -3.53%
Library Assistants & Library Technicians 10.70 10.18 0.52 5.11%
Community School Coordinators 2.50 2.50 - 0.00%
Learning Technology 14.61 15.00 (0.39) -2.60%
Maintenance Staff 19.50 22.50 (3.00) -13.33%
Caretaking 67.12 68.13 (1.01) -1.48%
Bus Shop Staff 11.30 11.35 (0.05) -0.44%
Bus Drivers 147.00 147.00 - 0.00%
Total Staffing 1,313.43 1,340.49 (27.06) -2.02%
Published by Prairie Spirit School Division
August 2015
For copies or for permission to reprint in whole or in part, contact:
Nadine Meister, Assistant to the Director, at:
[email protected] or (306) 683-2869
