Board Meeting and Committee of the Whole Budget: January 30, 2024
The Board Meeting and Committee of the Whole Budget for the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board took place on January 30, 2024.
Board Meeting
Staff brought forward two reports with two recommendations for discussion.
I voted in favour of the recommendation in Report 24-004, for the New Findlay Creek Elementary School Study – Approval of Opening Grade Structure, Program Offering, and Attendance Boundary. This report was carried at the Committee of the Whole and looked for the board’s approval of the opening grade structure, program offering, and attendance boundary for a new elementary school that is to be opened in the Findlay Creek neighborhood. The opening of this new elementary was approved by the board in September 2023. The recommendations were carried.
I voted in favour of the recommendation in Report 24-022, for the Appointment of an Indigenous Community Representative to the Special Education Advisory Committee. This report sought to appoint a community representative to the Special Education Advisory Committee. The recommendations were carried.
Committee of the Whole – Budget
Staff brought forward three items for discussion on the budget for 2023 to 2024.
Report 24-005 explained the changes reflected in the District’s 2023-2024 revised estimates as compared to the District’s 2023-2024 estimates. The revised estimates help to inform future financial planning and decision-making. The key changes from the estimates include the impact of enrolment increases, increased staff replacement costs, and increased costs for contracts such as snow removal. The revised estimates require staff to find at least $500,000 in savings to arrive at a balanced budget, potentially more if the board elects to replenish the reserves. During the discussion, I asked the following to staff:
Question: Looking at the school operation and maintenance revised estimates, it says we have found contracts specifically snow removal need to be increased and we added more funds, as part of this are we looking at revisiting our snow removal contracts if needed to help with this overspending?
Answer: We are constantly reviewing our snow removal contracts but the reality is that we have great difficulty in finding reliable snow removal contractors to provide us these services. We receive several complaints about the contractors that we do have and how they remove the snow. It is a continuous process and there is greater demand than supply in the market.
With no material provided in advance, staff provided an oral update on the budget process for 2024 to 2025. It is expected that the Ministry will release the technical papers for the budget in March or April and they have been no indication of additional funding. The technical papers are what staff need to finalize the District’s budget. Looking at the District’s current financial health, there are no accumulated reserves that can be used for operations, and inflation and rising corporate costs continue to add pressure to deliver the current programs.
With no material provided in advance, staff provided an oral update on the needs analysis for 2024 to 2025. Throughout the next several budget meetings, staff will be providing data from 2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024 on the areas identified in the needs-based: Transportation; Special Education; Mental Health and Well-being; cost pressures related to facilities, renovations, and new builds; Employee Replacement Costs; and Cybersecurity. During the discussion, staff focused on Occasional Teacher Replacement Cost and Transportation.
Occasional Teacher Replacement Costs is the cost of hiring a substitute teacher or temporary teacher to replace a permanent teacher. It continues to be a growing pressure across the entire province and the District is below the provincial average. During the discussion, I asked the following to staff:
Question: Are we looking at new ways to work with our Union partners to figure out the exact reason why we are seeing such a large deficit in our Occasional Teacher replacement cost? Do they have any insights on different ways that we could be looking at our budget or different ways we could be allocating our time so that we can reduce the cost?
Answer: There are a lot of different discussions between staff and unions to identify needs to help support our employees. We hired a General Manager of Employee Wellness to work on prevention to reduce sick leave and WSIB costs. There has been a reduction in absences this year.
The projected estimate for Transportation is a deficit of over $2.9 million. Transporting students to school is a priority and savings will need to be found elsewhere in the budget. During the discussion, challenges with the new funding formula, and the lack of funding for vans, were all discussed.
Please note, that the opinions expressed here are entirely my own and do not reflect an official position of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board or the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board of Trustees. Please note answers from staff are paraphrased, the recording can be found here if you would like to watch the entire meeting. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me using my contact form here.
Key links
Video for the meetings held on January 30, 2024
Agenda for the Board Meeting on January 30, 2024
Report 24-004, New Findlay Creek Elementary School Study
Appendix A, General Location Map - Study Area
Appendix B, School Attendance Boundary Map – Vimy Ridge Public School
Appendix C, Study Consultation Plan
Appendix D, Study Timeline
Appendix E, Recommended Attendance Boundary - New Findlay Creek Elementary School
Appendix F, Recommended Attendance Boundary- Vimy Ridge PS -JK to 6
Appendix G, Recommended Attendance Boundary - Vimy Ridge PS - 7 to 8
Appendix H, Current Enrolment and Accommodation Chart
Report 24-022, Appointment of an Indigenous Community Representative to the Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC)
Agenda for the Committee of the Whole Budget on January 30, 2024
Report 24-005, 2023-2024 Revised Estimates
Appendix A, Ministry Funding
Appendix B, Revenues
Appendix C, Expenses
