The Burnaby school district will pay less on teachers than projected this year despite also adding 12 more full-time teaching positions than anticipated.
The explanation for this development was part of the district’s presentation of its 2016/17 amended budget at a public school board meeting Tuesday.
Deputy secretary-treasurer Roy Uyeno explained the decreased cost is due to a shift in where local teachers are on the pay scale.
Burnaby’s average teacher salary cost is usually slightly higher than the provincial average because more local teachers are near the top of the scale. To help with the extra cost, the district normally qualifies for so-called “salary differential” funding from the province.
“This year we’re seeing the demographic of our teachers changing,” Uyeno said. “It’s gotten younger, so our average teacher salary cost, which we had projected in the spring has actually gone down. As a result of that, we’ve lost funding, but the good news is that we’re also spending less on our teachers.”
Even after hiring 12 more teachers than anticipated to cover extra enrolment, the district will still pay about $467,000 less on teacher salaries than was projected in the preliminary budget passed last April.
None of this has anything to do with Burnaby’s share of the extra $50 million announced by the province in January to partly address the November Supreme Court of Canada ruling on classroom conditions.
Uyeno said that $2 million isn’t part of the 2016/17 operating budget but will be disbursed this year and show up as special purpose funds in the district’s 2016/17 audited financial statements once the year is over.
Other changes from April’s preliminary budget to Tuesday’s amended budget:
-The amended budget $2.4 million bigger than the preliminary plan
-128 more elementary school students and 13 fewer highschoolers than anticipated
-173 more students with unique needs than projected, including English language learners and special education students, driving the hiring of 10 more education assistants
-100 more international students than projected generating an extra $1.4 million in gross review or $700,000 in net revenue
-$300,000 in extra savings in substitute teacher costs because of a shortage of teachers on call
-The district now expects to end the year with a $1.7 million shortfall instead of a $3 million shortfall
-Once surplus fund have been used to cover the shortfall, the district now expects to end the year with more than $5 million in accumulated surpluses instead of just over $1 million
