SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Plans by Yellowknife school districts to present a motion to increase the education mill rate has been put on hold after Yellowknife Education District No. 1 (Yk1) was unable to connect with ratepayers in time.
In order to change the mill rate the districts had to notify the city by this month but Yk1's ratepayers meeting isn't scheduled until June.
Under the NWT Education Act, school boards must meet with ratepayers before changing the mill rate.
Although the extra revenue generated from the increase would have been helpful to Yk1, it's not essential at the moment, said school board chairperson Allan Shortt.
"At this point in time we're in a deficit position but we're still within our surplus, so for this year we're OK. But unless we get more funding through (the Department of Education, Culture and Employment) we may have to look at an increase in the future," said Shortt.
The planned increase for this year would have bumped the rate to 4.87 from the current 4.64. The education mill rate has not been increased in 12 or 13 years, according to Simon Taylor, chair of the Yellowknife Catholic Schools board.
Taylor said he believes YCS can also weather this next year despite the increase being put on hold. But he is concerned about the future. A couple years ago the board had a large surplus but it has had to cut into it due to a decrease in enrolment and cuts to funding, among other reasons.
"The purpose of the surplus is a sort of cushion so it deals with unknowns," said Taylor, giving some examples. "If we have a particularly harsh winter, if we have a high level of damage ... we need additional teachers or we have increased numbers of special needs of sorts."
The board had aimed to have an accumulated surplus of $450,000 this year. Yet it has fallen $100,000 short. Administration was asked to make up the dollars, however, it advised against it.
"They were coming back and saying if we go below this we're cutting into that standard of education that we're not keen to see," Taylor said.
Yk1's situation is similar. About three years ago it had a surplus equivalent to 9.5 percent of its budget, which is generally about $32 million a year. Currently, the surplus is 4.7 percent of the budget.
"You have to keep a surplus of between three and five per cent. That's to be a healthy board," said Shortt. "I just can't afford to lose another four per cent and not have anything."
