Trustees of the Avon Maitland District School Board approved the budget for the 23-24 school year at a recent board meeting.
Superintendent of Corporate Services Cheri Carter says the total budget is about $259 million.
“Total budget is about $259 million, which is operating and capital. Our expenses are $239 million and we've got a capital budget of about just over $22 million. The budget itself was filed with a deficit, an operating deficit of about $1.9 million," Carter shared.
Carter says that's in line with the budgets they've filed for the last couple of years but says it's still a little concerning because there are some funding gaps.
Carter adds, their funding has gone up, which is confusing.
“Our funding has gone up, which is confusing because our funding has gone up, but our expenses have gone up at a quicker rate. So things like collective agreement costs and those types of things, statutory benefit costs, those things have gone up more than we're receiving funding for. So we do have some issues," Carter noted.
At the most recent AMDSB meeting, trustees passed a motion asking that staff write a letter raising some of their concerns to the Ministry and some of their local MPPs to make them aware of some of the funding gaps.
Carter says Special Ed and transportation are other areas of concern, as well as Indigenous Funding which was cut this year. Carter says other boards across the Province have also voiced similar concerns, so it won't come as a surprise to the Ministry.
