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Written by Caroline Zentner Lethbridge Herald
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Tuesday, February 23 2010, 8:58 PM |
As many as 15 teachers could lose their jobs with the Lethbridge public school district next year given the funding provided in the provincial budget.
But that would be a last resort and the district’s trustees and administrators intend to examine all other alternatives first.
“Our challenge as a district will be, at a time when there are a lot of other fiscal pressures, to maintain the staffing levels we have,” said superintendent Barry Litun following Tuesday’s board meeting. “We’re going to re-evaluate all of our expenditures and all of the programs and services we provide.”
Director of Finance Christine Lee told school board trustees the district needs to find $4 million to maintain its operations next year. That leaves trustees with a very difficult decision indeed — either reduce staff or consider a deficit budget. School boards aren’t allowed to run deficit budgets without the approval of Alberta Education.
“Neither of those choices are preferable but that’s the reality of what we’re facing,” Litun said.
The biggest change in funding for the Lethbridge School District is a loss of $1.3 million from the class-size grant. Class-size funding started flowing to school districts in 2004 to help them reach the class-size targets recommended by the Learning Commission. Funding for each district was calculated according to their needs. However, the funding formula was changed in the budget, resulting in 30 per cent fewer dollars for the district.
“Our request will be that a review of the amount of class-size funding to our district be taken and a determination of whether or not an adjustment should be made,” Litun said.
Complicating budget matters is the arbitrated settlement over teachers’ wages. The 1.2 per cent increase isn’t being funded by the province so the district has drawn on funds in reserve to meet the provision. In addition, the district drew on reserves to balance its budget last fall after the province clawed back education funding. The district will use nearly $1 million in reserve funds this year.
Litun said he’s optimistic given Education Minister Dave Hancock has said he will approach Treasury Board later in the spring to ask for funds to cover the increase. Under their contract, teachers will also be entitled to a salary increase equal to the Alberta Average Weekly Earnings Index in next year’s budget. The index is expected to be around 3 per cent.
“Our students are going to be so severely impacted this year,” said Trustee Keith Fowler as he made a motion to send a letter to Hancock outlining the district’s concerns.
The motion was carried unanimously. Chairman Gary Bartlett called the cuts significant despite some media reports that education was spared in the provincial budget. Litun also suggested contacting local MLAs to voice concerns.
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