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Catholic school coffers run low
Chair says dipping into accumulated surplus easier after GNWT empowered to use it

Evan Kiyoshi French
Northern News Services
Friday, June 5, 2015

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The Catholic school district will need to find creative ways to manage its cash next year, according to district chair Simon Taylor.

The Yellowknife Catholic Schools district is spending more than it's taking in, Taylor told board members gathered for their regular meeting last week, and have nearly run down the surplus in part to cover government programs launched in the past few years - including junior kindergarten in communities, which city schools must subsidize.

Assistant superintendent Janet Toner said the board anticipates having an operating deficit next year of more than $800,000 with only $13,777 in the accumulated operating surplus account. A year ago, Yellowknifer reported Yellowknife Catholic Schools had a $900,000 accumulated surplus.

The district is dipping into its surplus to cover regular school programming such as English and Math, Taylor told Yellowknifer.

"It will be a difficult year next year without more funding," said Toner, adding that they'll receive a slight increase in funding from the Department of Education, Culture and Employment because amendments to the collective agreement are increasing salaries and because enrolment numbers are on the rise.

The district's total revenues for the 2015-16 school year amount to a little less than $25 million while its expenditures add up to a little more than $25.5 million, giving it a deficit of exactly $843,427 for the school year. Last year, its deficit was $787,679, said Toner.

Taylor said the district isn't in "dire straights" and that the surplus it has enjoyed in previous years could be built up again. He said the district embarked on a strategy of spending as much as it could before the GNWT could take it away.

"Last year, the GNWT spent a lot of the year deciding that they could take surpluses if they chose to," he said. "So it didn't make sense to have one."

He said the department is in talks with the school boards to hash out an approach to school surpluses, in order to come to a consensus.

"I think what happened was accounting terminology got mixed up and people saw some potential to just take some money," said Taylor. "Things are tight with the GNWT, and that confusion resulted in a situation with some people saying, 'That's money we can take.' If you have a surplus, the government was very clear that they might take it. The minister mentioned a few times that those surpluses were there and could have been removed.

"So for us to have a surplus when the government was in that kind of mood didn't make sense. That led to us spending what we could. It's a nuanced thing. It's not that we chose to spend all kinds of money because of the government. We've been operating in that way for a few years now. But at the same time there is that spectre there that encourages one not to have a surplus."

Responding to questions by e-mail, Jacqueline McKinnon, spokesperson for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, stated the department is reviewing how schools are funded and examining how to address school surpluses and deficits.

"ECE will be consulting with school authorities on proposed changes to the surplus/deficit retention policy," she stated. Toner said the district expects a small increase in funding from ECE.

"It's just a slight increase in overall funding," said Toner. "Last year, they (ECE) gave us $17.1 million. This year, we're getting $17.8 million."

Toner said the biggest expenditure for the board is payroll. The plan is to enter the new year with the same number of teachers as it did last year, but add two more classroom assistants for a total of 29. It's also on the hook for the Do Edaezhe program, a resiliency program which was launched about six years ago in the hopes of boosting graduation rates among aboriginal students. Toner said the first five years of the program received around $18 million in federal funding. Last year was the first year federal funding was shut off.

"And it was a lot of funding," she said.

The district can also expect to pay more because Grade 8 classes have been moved to St. Patrick High School, and students previously attending St. Joseph School will have to be brought across the city by bus.

"How we address things next year will require certain finesse," said Taylor, adding that exactly how they'll juggle their finances to make ends meet would have to be hashed out next year.

"We've been operating on a deficit budget for a few years now. We have had a surplus but due to various issues - which have included the junior kindergarten funding - we have been compelled, in order to maintain the level of education ... to run a deficit budget. We had the money saved up from previous years but essentially this year we're coming to an end of that."

The program the GNWT intended to phase in for Yellowknife in 2016 would have offered parents and guardians free, voluntary junior kindergarten programming through the Catholic school district - they currently have to pay for pre-kindergarten.

After junior kindergarten was announced, Yellowknife Education District No. 1 and the Catholic school board issued a joint statement criticizing the move, saying it was like asking the schools to provide 14 grades while paying for 13. When the program was halted in October, the GNWT's plan was to revisit the issue following an eight-month review.

However, the schools were still on the hook for the launch which cost the Catholic board more than $700,000, said Taylor.

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