EDMONTON – Millions of dollars to run and repair public schools will be cut and previously approved raises, including those for school trustees and non-union staff, cancelled in an effort to shield students from painful provincial budget cuts, school trustees decided Tuesday.
Central administration costs will also be slashed and surplus funds will be drained to combat a funding shortfall.
More details will emerge during the next few months about how cuts will hit individual schools and staff levels, including possible layoffs and bigger class sizes, superintendent Edgar Schmidt said during Tuesday’s school board meeting. The cuts will be felt across the district, he said.
“We are indeed working diligently to preserve as many positions as we possibly can in the face of some pretty challenging times,” Schmidt said during the meeting.
“Our mandate remains the same but how we get there will be different this year.”
The provincial government gave school boards money to cover student enrolment increases this fall, but cuts to education grants in the March provincial budget cost Edmonton Public Schools $30.5 million in lost revenue, a report to trustees says.
Overall, the school district will have $18.9 million less than last year to teach an additional 1,200 students this fall, when enrolment is projected to climb 1.5 per cent, the report says.
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Money to operate, maintain and repair schools and district buildings will take a major hit in 2013-14, with an $8.4-million reduction from this school year.
Despite worries about how the district will cover associated costs, trustees ratified a provincial framework that is designed to be the basis for new teacher contracts. Trustees expressed frustration but voted 5-4 in favour of the deal Tuesday.
Earlier this year, the school board decided trustees elected this October would get a raise of more than seven per cent to their annual pay, an honorarium of $30,315 per year, plus bigger travel and expense allowances. Trustees voted 8-1 Tuesday to cancel those increases. The last increase to their pay was a 2.9-per-cent raise in September 2010.
“It’s time for us to lead by example and take another zero,” school board chairwoman Sarah Hoffman said.
Trustees also unanimously voted to delay 2.5-per-cent raises for more than 500 non-union staff, such as human resources consultants, occupational therapists, speech therapists and communications staff. The previously approved raises were due to start in September but now won’t kick in until the following September, saving about $1.2 million.
The alternative was layoffs, trustee Heather MacKenzie said.
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