First reading of the 2023-24 budget of $106,241,564 was approved by the School District No. 83 (North Okanagan-Shuswap) Board of Education at its meeting on Tuesday, May 16 at the District Education Support Centre (DESC).
One of the primary responsibilities of an elected school board is to pass, by bylaw, a balanced annual budget for each school year on or before June 30 of the year prior.
At the meeting Secretary-Treasurer Dale Culler explained key aspects of the budget. Along with the financial information Culler had a slide presentation which walked through the budget process including the timeline, where the district receives its funding and how it is allocated, budget risks, and what makes up a sustainable, robust budget. (slide below shows information on how Inclusive Education funding is allocated).
"For the last couple of years appropriated surplus was used to balance the operating budget. We had to take a really hard look with many heartfelt sessions to develop a sustainable budget. We had to look at what we want to support (aligned to the strategic plan) and where we could find efficiencies."
Culler said he is not proposing the use of any of the estimated $200,000 in accumulated surplus to supplement the budget, and is looking to rebuild the amount in the accumulated surplus in small incremental steps, until it reaches where it should be by Board policy. "By policy we should have around two per cent of the Board's actual operating costs in accumulated surplus, which is approximately $1.75 million. We want to rebuild that reserve."
"We also are taking the opportunity to look at ways to attract some additional students and build on the International program." He noted the returns on the district's investments were strong last year so that has helped as well.
Areas of concern in the budget were higher costs than expected last year in the areas of substitute costs (due to sick leaves and absences) and utility costs. "We had to take a look at that and reflect what they really are."
He noted the overall impact of all the funding changes, including new Ministry grants, will result in an expected increase of $6,072,343 to the 2023-24 budget over last year's. This increase is largely due to the labour settlement increases, which required $4,865,841 of increased funding.
Based on the operating grant block funding announced on March 15, along with SD83's projected increase in student enrolment of 120.765 full time equivalency (FTE), changes for the 2023-24 school year are as follows:
For more information
P.O. Box 129 ~ 341 Shuswap St. S.W
Salmon Arm British Columbia
Canada V1E 4H9
www.sd83.bc.ca
