Released at the final meeting of the year on Wednesday night, the budget figures for 1997-98 reveal that the cost per student is decreasing from $8,155 this year to $8,136 in the upcoming year.

The total budget for the next school year rests at about $11.7 million, 73 per cent of which goes toward staffing costs.

While this reduction in funding doesn't cut too deep, the picture painted for the next three years is dismal. Projected cuts to funding in the 1998-99 school year mean the amount will decrease further to $7,810 per student, and again in 1999-2000 to $7,661.

"We don't have any alternative when the funding goes down -- it's a balancing act," said Annalise Van Ham, head of the board's finances.

The cuts come at a time when the revenue from the board's tax base has slightly increased from last year, but enrolment in the district has also increased.

Peter Groenen, chair of the board's finance committee, said that the cuts are coming directly from reductions in funding from the GNWT. The board is merely trying to absorb cuts that will likely continue for the next several years, he added.

"They've indicated that the cuts are going to continue and that they will be just as mean," said Groenen. While this year's reductions, he said, aren't as bad as last year, the board is merely trying to deal with them as best they can.

"It's ongoing and the problem isn't getting any easier," he said.

Groenen admitted the board has recently been focusing on some of the short-term goals of the district, but said it's time the board look at some of the long-term issues facing the schools.

The board has already begun to deal with these type of issues by setting aside more money in the upcoming year's budget to address more long-term concerns.

Some of these issues include building a larger financial surplus for the district, as well as giving more money to schools for upgrading.

"So that if we have to replace a boiler, we can," said Van Ham.

The 1997-98 budget has set aside $50,000 to add to the district's surplus, which is currently weighing in at a mere 1.5 per cent, a far cry from the industry norm which rests at five per cent of the total budget.

"We're taking a long-term approach to rebuilding the surplus," she added.