The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board continues to tackle its 2019-2020 budget.
The PC government has issued a directive to all boards to find operational savings.
Superintendent of Business Richard Findlay says so far they have found close to $3-million in savings from outside the classroom.
Findlay says “we’ve cut department budgets by 25%. We have staff cuts outside the classroom.”
He notes “Our plan will be to reduce teaching staff through attrition and through declining enrolment, rather than surplusing teachers due to funding constraints. We are not laying off classroom staff, raising savings from outside the classroom to fund teaching positions.”
He stresses the public board remains committed to protecting teaching positions and sustain student learning in the classroom.
Findlay says right now the public board is sitting with a deficit budget, but he hopes to balance the books at the end of the day.
The Board has received more time to develop a budget.
Findlay says the deadline to submit their fiscal document is now July 24th, instead of the end of June.
Findlay notes they are waiting for two major provincial funding allocations and stresses the final fiscal plan won’t be released until they see those numbers.
He adds the provincial government is totally on board with their plan and are even willing to allow them to present a deficit budget with the plans that they have in place.
However, the PC’s want to see a balanced budget by the 2021-2022 fiscal year and are willing to provide assistance to find savings.
