Rolling River School Division draft budget review
- Details
- Published on Thursday, February 27, 2014
By: Kate Jackman-Atkinson
myWestman.ca
Earlier this month, the Rolling River School Division released its draft budget for the 2014-2015 school year. The budget will will be up 1.8 per cent compared to last year and the division will be asking for $330,000, or 3.5 per cent more in local funding.
Starting in the 2014-2015 school year, the division is expecting the enrolment of 1,708 students, eight more than the current year. After a few years of declining enrolment, RRSD superintendent Reg Klassen says that they are “cautiously optimistic” about enrolment going forward. He explains that they have a large number of students in Kindergarten to Grade 3, compared to students in the senior years. This growth in the lower grades should help enrolment stay stable or increase slightly going forward.
Klassen added that they have had interest from communities within the division to use school facilities to meet local shortages of day care and nursery school space. He hopes that will be part of a long-term plan.
On the revenue side, the division has seen no increase in provincial education funding. Klassen explains that since they have been experiencing declining enrolment, their funding level remains stable. Over the last few years, he says that this stable funding has been very good for the division, allowing them to retain programming and electives, especially at the high school level.
Keeping these classes helps the division’s school remain attractive to students. He adds that it has also helped them meet the province’s requirement that all classes in Kindergarten to Grade 3 have 20 students or less.
While the division won’t be getting any more provincial funding, they have seen an increase in federal funding for Rolling River First Nation and federal government funded students due to an increase in enrolment.
Under other revenue streams, the division will be receiving approximately $400,000, a 32.8 per cent increase. This represents lease revenue from the recently purchased Minnedosa Provincial Building.
Klassen says that the division will be making use of the province’s special funding for literacy and numeracy and career exploration announced earlier this year.
“We’ll make use, absolutely,” he said. The minimum grants are $7,500 for each project and Klassen said it will help them move forward with the initiatives.
When it comes to expenses, regular instruction will be increasing by just over two per cent. Regular instruction is the largest single expense, accounting for just over $13 million of the budget. The division will be adding 2.6 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions, which will include additional time for a psychologist, reading recovery at Tanners Crossing School as well as a guidance counsellor and additional preparation time for the division’s colony schools and small schools.
The division will also be adding 10 extra hours per day in educational assistant supports for students.
The division will also incur expenses related to the continued upgrade of computer equipment. Ongoing projects include the implementation of a wide area network to support connectivity and distance education. This project is expected to be completed in the 2014-2015 school year. The second major project is the implementation of a technology device ratio of 1:1 for all high school students. This is a multi-year project.
The division plans to maintain its budget for professional development for instructional staff, renovations and repairs for schools, division office and maintenance shop facilities development and vehicle replacement budget.
The division plans to decrease its budget for payroll because of reduced accounting fees due to software replacement. They also plan to decrease the school bus replacement budget after purchasing three new buses.
The division has a couple of major capital projects on the drawing board. One project is the renovation of the provincial government building to house the division’s new offices. This is a long term project as the lease agreement with the current tenant ends at the end of 2015 and starting Jan. 1, 2016, the renovations will begin.
The division is also looking at options for a new maintenance garage. Klassen said the current building is quite old and is costly to upkeep and repair. “It’s served us well…[but] we have to move,” he said. At this point, the division is still looking at either acquiring an existing building or building new.
The division also has some smaller projects planned, including gym flooring repairs and replacements in Erickson and Rivers, as well as work on water and heating systems in the division’s schools.
The division is expecting increased expenses for the trustee election this fall.
This upcoming school year, the division is asking for an increase in their special levy, but not all property owners will share this increase. Because 2014 was a year of reassessment, the RRSD portioned assessment is up 18.6 per cent, which means that the mill rate has fallen by 12.5 per cent to 15.2 mills.
Because of reassessment, property owners whose properties increased in value by less than 15 per cent will actually see their school division taxes decease for 2014. On a property assessed at $100,000, if their assessment increased by 10 per cent, they will see a four per cent decrease in property taxes. On a residential property, this amounts to a $27 savings. On the other hand, if a property assessed at $100,000 increased in value by 20 per cent, its school taxes will increase by 4.8 per cent, or $33 for a residential property.
Overall, Klassen is proud of the budget, especially its ability to add front line staff and create sustainable programming.
“We’ve been able to put together a really good budget… We’ve taken the increases we have and put them straight into the classrooms. I’m quite proud of the board,” he concluded.
