By Pepper Parr
June 2, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
Are you ready for this?
A budget of $705 million for the Halton District School Board.
That is a whopper of a number and much of it comes out of your wallets. The province provides a significant amount – but that too comes out of your wallet.
This is how that $705 million gets spent.
The bulk of the school board budget is spent on teaching students – here is a breakdown of that spending.
Key expense items:
Classroom Teachers
The $17,870K increase includes the addition of 17.5 Elementary Teachers and 38.1 Secondary Teachers due to enrolment growth, 1.25% across the board salary increase and removal of the delay in grid movement per the central labour agreement. This is partially offset by the reduction of 17.5 Elementary Special Education Teachers to reflect change in delivery model.
Supply Staff
The $1,350K increase reflects the impact of projected rising trends in usage and the impact of the central labour agreement.
Educational Assistants
The $2,200K increase includes the addition of 35 Educational Assistants and 1.25% across the board salary increase per the central labour agreement.
Early Childhood Educators
The $617K increase includes the addition of 1 Early Childhood Educator, 1.25% across the board salary increase and removal of the delay in grid movement per the central labour agreement.
Textbooks and Supplies
The $1,014K increase includes the addition of a new decentralized school budget supplement based on the School Needs index and transfer of Education Program
Computers The $806K increase reflects the acquisition of school technology funded through the Technology Learning Fund 21st Century Learning EPO.
Professionals, Para- professionals & Technical The $1,242K increase includes the addition of .5 Child and Youth Counsellor, 1 IPRC Clerical Support, 1 Applied Behaviour Analysis Trainer and 1 Social Worker for International Students and Refugee Support. This increase is also reflective of central labour agreements.
Library and Guidance
The $1,006K increase includes the addition of 2.5 Elementary and 3 Secondary Library and Guidance Teachers due to enrolment growth, 1.25% across the board salary increase and removal of the delay in grid movement per central labour agreements.
Staff Development
The $260K increase includes professional development and training to increase teacher capacity specifically related to special education.
Department Heads
The small increase of $15K represents the increase of department head allowances based on shifting enrolment between secondary schools and impact of the central labour agreement.
Principals and Vice-Principals
The $643K increase includes the addition of 1 Elementary Vice-Principal and estimated impact of the central labour agreement once finalized.
School Office
The $982K increase includes the addition of 5.2 Clerical Support Staff due to enrolment growth, 1.25% across the board salary increase per the central labour agreement and increase in administrative computer replacement.
Coordinators and Consultants
The $42K decrease includes turnover and job classification savings, partially offset by implementation of central labour agreements.
Continuing Education The $51K increase includes the impact of central labour agreements as well as addition of International
Language Supervisors.
Administration The $420K increase includes the impact of central labour agreements and the upgrade of financial system software. Also included is the continued support for Records Management implementation.
Transportation
The $702K increase reflects an increase in operator costs per contractual agreements and projected service delivery.
Interesting that the Board of Education chooses to show their numbers as $702K – that K actually means 1024 and not a round 1000
Director of Education Stewart Miller expressed some concern over how well the public understands the way education is funded and said he wanted to create a committee that would take on the task of getting a deeper explanation o education funding into the hands of the public.
