Budget work continues for HPEDSB

As Hastings Prince Edward District School Board officials work on fixing their budget woes, the board’s Superintendent of Business Services notes that no one magic solution will solve the $4 million funding shortfall.

However, Nick Pfeiffer tells Quinte News he is confident they will balance the budget.

Last week the board revealed that the shortage for the 2023-2034 budget is due to transportation challenges, increasing operating costs such as heating and lighting due to rising inflation, and Ministry of Education funding decreases in several areas.

Pfeiffer says a $1 million decrease in funding for Indigenous studies was especially surprising.

“So the ministry from year to year changes the funding. They have particular initiatives or particular priorities that they’re trying to support. And it does change from year to year. Often we get advance notice so we can sort of build it into the models we’re preparing but in this case it kind of came out of the blue.”

He says the Indigenous Education Grant next year is being used to provide more support for Indigenous students but unfortunately it means there is less money to provide staff who teach about Indigenous cultures.

Temporary funding for COVID-19 responses has also been ended.

That was $2.5 million last year.

Pfeiffer says the board has had to dip into its reserve funds to balance its budgets over the last couple of years but those funds are not meant for day-to-day operational costs.

“So to kind of enforce that, the Ministry of Education has some rules. And one of them is you, you can’t spend more than one per cent of your operating allocation, the amount of money you get every year as a deficit so for us that’s about $2 million. So we can’t ever spend more than about $2 million a year over what we receive. The other one is you can’t run a deficit three years in a row. So because we had a deficit the last couple of years, we really are looking for a balanced budget this coming year.”

Still, Pfeiffer believes they are making some good moves to save money without decreasing quality.

Pfeiffer says they’ve conducted a transportation review to try to match their transportation expenses to their funding.

Another piece they’re looking at is how to better conserve resources including implementing an energy conservation plan.

“We’ll start putting that into effect. How do we conserve energy? How are we better at turning the lights off in schools for example. Or managing the ventilation schedules of schools or all those other pieces that, you know, add up a few thousand dollars per school but, you know, we have about a half million dollars we’re looking to save overall.”

Ontario school boards must pass their budgets by June 30.

Pfeiffer says the funding issues are not unique to HPEDSB as boards across the province face the same challenges.

He feels they are in a good position compared to many other boards.

Pfeiffer is pleased that enrolment, both elementary and secondary, is trending up.

Higher enrolment brings in additional funding.