Public school board balances budget with help from reserve fund

The Calgary Board of Education is dipping into its reserve funds to maintain existing programs, particularly English as a second language and special needs classes, but parents won't be facing any big fee increases.

Calling it a conservative and creative financial plan, the school board presented its $992.2 million operating budget on Tuesday.

"It's a budget where we're, I think, happy that we're demonstrating our capacity to deliver the same level of programs, if not some improvements, by doing things differently," said Don Dart, superintendent of corporate services.

The only fee increases facing parents next fall are an annual increase of $20 for lunch room supervision and a jump of $2 per month for senior high school bus tickets.

Provincial funding, which increased by 4.6 per cent, was sufficient to cover the basic operating costs, but grants for ESL and special needs programs were allottedin amounts less than the board had expected. To maintain those programs, the board pulled $5 million from a reserve fund for what officials called "our most vulnerable students."

"They are one-time funds," said Dart. "They are not to sustain programs but just to bridge in between challenging years, and so we're using it as a bridging this year. So, as we approach [2010/11], we hope some of those supports will ramp up again."

The withdrawal leaves the CBE's reserve fund at $25 million.

With a minimal increase of 0.6 per cent in student enrollment the majority in kindergarten to Grade 3 years there will be 70 new teachers and nearly 30 more support staff. The public board will also be opening four new schools this year.

Despite a $1.1 million loss in revenues outside of provincial grants, CBE officials were pleased no programs would have to becut for the board's 103,000 students.

"While maintaining our excellent programming around the district, [the budget]has very few what we call service changes and enhancements," said Dart.

More than three-quarters of the budget will go to wages and benefits forthe roughly 10,000 people who work for the board.