The Burnaby school district will dig deeper into reserve funds than anticipated last spring.
In its preliminary budget approved in April, the district expected its revenues to fall about $2.5 million short of its expenses, a gap it planned to cover with surplus funds.
In the amended budget approved Tuesday, however, revenues fall almost $4.9 million short.
To cover that extra $2.4-million hole, the district is using about $1.6 million set aside by the board at the end of last year after the preliminary budget had already been passed.
“That was some specific budgets that were not spent last year for school learning resources, program development, etc.,” Frank told the NOW. “That was money that was to have been spent last year that was carried forward to spend this year. So that’s all planned, although it’s planned after the budget.”
The part that wasn’t planned, according to Frank, was the remaining $783,296.
Fortunately, another thing the district hadn’t anticipated in April was starting this year with a nearly $4.8-million unrestricted surplus, thanks mostly to savings the district was allowed to keep from the teacher job action at the end of last year.
The district will use part of that windfall to pay the $783,296 deficit, Frank said, and have almost $4 million left to help with budget challenges already looming on the horizon for next year.
“Although it’s been a tough financial year for the district in terms of operations, in terms of reduced revenues and impact on expenses, we have still finished the year in a strong position overall financially,” Frank told the board.
The secretary-treasurer blamed the recent five-month teacher labour dispute for playing havoc with the district’s original financial plan.
Regular school-age enrolment fell 143 students short of projected numbers this year, costing the district $1 million.
Local public schools lost another $850,000 to a drop in distributed learning, English language and adult education enrolment.
“We believe that is a direct result of the timing of the job action, which went through the end of last school year over the summer and then through the first part of the school year, so, in some cases, students and families made choices to seek their education elsewhere,” Frank said.
The “bright spot” in enrolment was international education, the secretary-treasurer said, which saw 58 more students than expected, bringing in an extra $950,000.
Based on past experience with teacher strikes, the district also expects eventually to recover the regular school-aged students lost during the labour dispute.
“It’s been the trend in the past,” Frank said, “and this is the place to be.”
