Lynn Lau
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Jun 22/01) - In sharp contrast to the staff cuts at the public school board, the Catholic board yesterday approved the hiring of five new teachers for the next school year.
The changes were contained in the 2001-2002 operating budget, passed at the Yellowknife Catholic School Board's final meeting of the school year.
The budget plans for revenues of $15,041,355. Of that, 71 per cent comes from the territorial government and 20 per cent from municipal taxpayers. The rest comes from other grants and contributions and board generated funds.
The budget calls for hiring 5.2 additional teachers, 0.8 secretaries and 0.7 support assistants for a total of 6.7 new full-time equivalent positions.
Even with the additional staff, the school board expects to have a $140,000 operating surplus and a total accumulated surplus of $658,000 in the bank by the end of 2002.
Those numbers are expected decrease when the board completes contract negotiations with its teachers.
The current NWT Teachers' Association collective agreement expires June 30, and the expected wage increases were not included in the budget calculations.
Superintendent Kern Von Hagen credited a school-based decision-making model for the district's surplus position.
"We allow both the district and the schools to carry forward their surpluses," Von Hagen said after the meeting. "It encourages and motivates our staff and leadership teams to look ahead and plan wisely.
"We're saying if you manage your money well, you have the right and responsibility to carry it forward."
Decentralized budget planning has been in place informally for the past six or seven years, Von Hagen said, but it was only formalized as a policy this year.
The additional teachers will reduce the district's pupil to teacher ratio to 16.3:1 from the current 17.3:1.
The pupil to teacher ratio is a measurement used by school boards to compare the number of students to the number of trained teachers. Principals, vice-principals, and support teachers are included in the figure.
The additional staff includes classroom teachers, and instructors for the literacy and reading initiatives and the store-front alternative school, Learning on Franklin (a joint project with the public school board).
The budget also allows for more professional development for staff working with special needs students, the hiring of an educational psychologist in partnership with the public school board, and a plan to bring more technology into the classrooms.
The district will not raise its mill rate, but it still expects an increase in tax revenue due to property reassessments and changes in ratepayer support.
