Committee of the Whole: December 5, 2023
The Committee of the Whole Meeting for the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board took place on December 5, 2023, with me as chair. Staff brought forward one report and a Trustee brought forward one notice of motion for discussion.
The Notice of Motion on a Needs-Based Budget was brought forward from the last Committee of the Whole meeting for action. A needs-based budget is a data-informed approach to developing a budget in anticipation of receiving the Grants for Students Needs which incorporates commitments made by the District and the organization’s needs. Substitute language was brought forward and was accepted as a friendly substitution:
THAT the motion be amended by substituting the following wording (in the recommendation section of the motion).
THAT the Board instruct the Director of Education to develop a needs-based budget for the upcoming 2024-2025 school year.
THAT staff develop an analysis of needs in the following areas as part of the 2024-2025 budget process: 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 on the motion with the substitute language, an amendment was proposed to add:
THAT staff develop an analysis of needs in the following areas as part of the 2024-2025 budget process: Transportation; Special Education; Mental Health and Well-Bring; cost pressures related to facilities, renovations, and new builds; Employee Replacement Costs; and Cybersecurity and education supports and programs related to educational outcomes.
I voted against the amendment. I felt that the amendment was too vague to apply to a needs-based analysis. The amendment did not pass.
During the discussion on the motion with the substitute language, I made the following comments:
I will also be supporting this motion on the floor as someone who believes heavily in participatory budgets and for a needs-based analysis as the wallets of the school board and the wallets of different levels of government are getting tighter, we need all of the tools in our toolbox to help advocate for more funding and also for a better tomorrow not just for our students but all of Ottawa. I am really going to encourage my colleagues this is the direction that lots of different governments are going in towards a needs-based budget and a participatory budget. This is a very important process.
I voted in favour of the motion. The motion passed.
Report 23-088, Student Achievement Planning and Reporting was brought up for discussion. This report provides an update on student achievement planning and reporting and discusses alignment with the direction provided by the Ministry of Education. During the I raised the following:
If you were to say the top three things you were most surprised to learn about through these metrics or this data about in the report.
What the impact of COVID might be when you look at the difference in achievement results for students in grade three versus grade six. Those kids have rarely been in a regular school year.
The most challenging was keeping a report like this in a manageable way to have meaningful conversations without bringing you a 500-page report.
I see quite a few parallels with our board work plan with this data. I am looking forward to further conversations about how this could be used as a summary report on progress for our board work plan. I think there are so many key nuggets of information in here and having something that also is parallel with our board work plan would be amazing.
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 Committee of the Whole on December 5, 2023
Agenda for the Committee of the Whole on December 5, 2023
Notice of Motion, Needs Based Budget
Report 23-088, Student Achievement Planning and Reporting
Appendix A, Ministry of Education Student Achievement
Appendix B, OCDSB Mathematics Achievement Action Plan, 2023 to 2024
Appendix C, 2022 to 2023 Student Learning Update
