Board Passes Amended Budget
The 2023-2024 Amended Annual Budget received final approval during a special meeting of the Board of Education for School District No. 83 (North Okanagan-Shuswap) at the District Education Support Centre (DESC) on Monday, February 26, 2024.
Secretary-Treasurer Dale Culler provided trustees with additional information . “The briefing note is designed to provide some additional detail on the budget, so specifically focusing around the operating funding piece as we covered a fair amount of the expenditure pieces in the presentation on the 20th.” He said there is also more detail on special purpose funds and details on expenditures on the capital side – minor, major and local.
Culler also spoke to trustees about the impact of the decline in enrolment, resulting in an enrolment based funding decrease of $1.26 million. The decrease was partially offset by an increase to the number of categorized students with special needs. He also discussed the supplement for salary differential funding explaining the Ministry collects educator staffing data through the Employment Data & Analysis System (EDAS). Quarterly the District submits staffing details to BCPSEA for collection in the EDAS system and then the Ministry uses this information to calculate Districts’ supplement for salary differential funding. The District’s base supplement for salary differential is $1,219,380 which is calculated as 6,761.938 times the funding level of $180.33 per Full Time Equivalency (FTE).
The District’s average teacher salary of $93,370 remains below the provincial average level of $94,238 resulting in a variance from Provincial average equal to ($868). The Ministry then adjusts the base funding for the variance from the Provincial average educator salary. “Our variance of ($868) is multiplied by an estimate for our number of educators calculated as 375.663. This is determined by dividing our enrolment-based student FTE by the Provincial ratio of 18,” stated Culler. SD83’s actual number of educators is 445.618 FTE (or a ratio of 15.17 when remedy positions are included). “This results in a total funding supplement for Salary Differential in the amount of $893,305,” he added.
“The preliminary funding tables used to calculate the funding for the 2024 annual budget resulted in a variance from the Provincial average in the amount of ($1,844). Our average teacher’s salary continues to be less than the Provincial average primarily because fewer of our teachers have reached the top of the pay scale compared to other Districts. However, as our average teacher salary is now closer to the provincial average our reduction for the variance from Provincial average decreased resulting in an overall increase of $355,091 in funding for the 2024 amended budget.”
Culler also mentioned that after questions at the last Board meeting, he reviewed all of the amounts in software and supplies. “I spent a great deal of time reviewing and going through those amounts, finding any that happened to be redundant and looking at the math around all the extensions.” Culler also had a discussion with transportation staff to have an in-depth look at their funding needs since fuel costs have dropped a bit.
Although Trustee Corryn Grayston was unable to attend the meeting, she sent a statement explaining that she is opposed to the amended budget as presented as trustees are being asked to support over $555,000 in budget increases while at the same time reducing student supports.
Grayston was also opposed to using funding from the appropriated surplus in order to complete the year with a small surplus, which she says is a long ways from the one to two per cent contingency amount as per Board Policy.
Culler explained that contractual commitments and timing of grant money received account for most of what is coming from appropriated surplus. “We are appropriating from surplus but it is important to know where and what.” He noted that under the internally restricted funds, there were a number of different initiatives approved by the Board last year which came out of appropriated surplus. As well, the timing of funding for some government initiatives did not line up with the school year. For example, because of the timing of the ICY (Integrated Child and Youth Team) funding, it had to be put into internally restricted funds until it could be used to fund this new initiative.
Culler further elaborated on union commitments, stating, “The commitments were made through collective agreements and are funded through per-pupil funding. We have an obligation to calculate and understand what remains and what is available for those members to benefit. That one is specifically aimed at professional development.”
Culler mentioned that there was a question regarding the change in professional development and the union commitments are part of it. He explained, “We are required to have internally restricted amounts that are specific to professional development. When we include those amounts in the budget it is going to increase our budget.”
Trustees thanked the finance team for the additional information and voted to give the amended budget third and final reading. The amended annual budget was submitted to the Ministry.