A parents group is accusing the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) of not being upfront when it comes to staff salaries.
The Calgary Association of Parent and School Councils (CAPSC) claims not enough money is making its way to classrooms, instead, it’s being caught up in administrative salaries.
“The CBE’s administrative and school support costs are 2.5 times what the Catholic board is. So that’s $160-million more that are not reaching the schools,” Lisa Davis with CAPSC said.
What’s more, CAPSC suggests the decision to disclose compensation of staff was debated in secret, referencing a trustee agenda from earlier this fall.
CAPSC created their own CBE sunshine list based on audited financial statements from 2014 and 2015.
The groups said its numbers show one year pay increases up to 40 per cent for human resource officials and school teachers making substantially less than those in head office.
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It also pegs Chinook Learning salaries as high as $364,000 a year.
“I think it’s fair to say we don’t think teachers individually are making that kind of money – but if you add up the difference between what a teacher in a school makes and this kind of overage, we’re talking about $12 million over two years. So, it really begs the question: what kinds of costs are being cycled through that department and why?”
In response, the CBE’s chief financial officer Brad Grundy released the following statement:
It’s unfortunate that the analysis done by CAPSC is grossly inaccurate. If the public has questions about compensation in the CBE, we direct them to our compensation disclosure website. This discloses average salaries, pay ranges, collective agreements and group benefit information. We’re the first school jurisdiction in Alberta to provide such information.
Our budget and financial information webpage also contains comprehensive information, including our year-end financials and budgets.
For example, it is ludicrous and irresponsible to suggest that any teacher at Chinook makes $364,000. These teachers are paid an hourly rate as per their collective agreement.
A second example would be that it is absurd to imply that a certificated teacher, under a collective agreement, would receive a 40 per cent raise.
The CBE carefully manages its board and system administration costs. All boards are required by Alberta Education to report on this amount annually. The CBE, like the other metro boards, has board and system administration costs that are less than three per cent. This information is contained in our 2016-17 budget report and other financial documents, and on the Alberta Education website.
We are a well-managed and highly regulated organization. Accurate financial information is easily accessible on our website.
A comparison between the CBE’s compensation disclosure and CAPSC’s sunshine list shows some substantial differences. That’s partly because the CBE’s numbers do not included benefits, while CAPSC has factored them in.
“Benefits are a big part of the overall compensation package. It ranges anywhere from 20-25 per cent,” Davis said. “You can’t simply look at the salary range which is what the CBE publishes, you have to look at the entire package.”
Without benefits an average Alberta Teachers’ Association salary, according to the CBE is about $106,800. On its website the CBE said “benefits across all employees average approximately 23 per cent of salary.” That would make the total compensation about $131,000, which compares to just over $138,000 calculated by CAPSC.
CAPSC said the CBE’s disclosure simply doesn’t go far enough and is continuing calls for the release of a sunshine list.
“I think it would be a really important recognition that debating sunshine lists in the dark is not the way to go and it’s a mistake they’re prepared to fix,” Davis said.
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