The Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD) Board of Trustees has approved a balanced operating budget through the proposed partial use of reserves. The 2023-2024 CCSD draft budget was presented to and approved by the Board of Trustees on Wednesday, May 24, at a regular board meeting.
"The district continues to prioritize students' successes in a challenging environment of escalating costs and enrolment," says Board Chair Cathie Williams. "On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I thank our stakeholders that participated in the district's budget consultation in February. Your board will continue to advocate for sustainable and equitable funding that will allow the district to support our students' diverse needs in faith-based learning spaces."
The district is budgeting $650.9 million in revenues (up 6.1 per cent from the prior year's budget) and $667.9 million in expenditures (up 6.5 per cent from the prior year's budget) for the fiscal year September 1, 2023, to August 31, 2024. The result is a $17.0 million operating gap, which will be balanced through capital transactions and a proposed transfer from reserves.
Additional points regarding the 2023-2024 CCSD budget include:
- The operating gap of $17.0 million, after adjusting for capital transactions, results in a $14.9 million proposed drawdown from reserves, which is subject to ministerial approval.
- The operating gap arises from the incurrence of higher costs for instructional support, special education classes, the launch of an outreach high school, higher employee benefit costs and the continued impact of inflationary pressures.
- The budgeted operating reserves for August 2024, excluding school generated funds, are projected to be $9.7 million, representing approximately 1.5 per cent of annual spend, which establishes a reasonable balance between sustaining the size of the district's operations, while remaining compliant with the requirement of maintaining operating reserves within a range of no less than 1.0 per cent and no more than 3.2 per cent of annual spend.
"This balanced budget effectively uses available resources to deliver on the priorities outlined by our Board of Trustees," says Chief Superintendent Dr. Bryan Szumlas. "The use of a portion of the reserves will allow CCSD to continue to provide high-quality learning opportunities to students, guided by our mission and vision-Living and Learning in our Catholic Faith, so that students, centred in Christ, realize their full potential."
The approved budget will be submitted to the Ministry of Education by the May 31 deadline.
