The Citizen, 2003-06-11, Page 24PAGE 24. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 2003.
Trustees presented with proposed balanced budget
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
In what officials of the Avon
Maitland District School Board call
“a welcome change from past
years,” trustees were presented with
a proposed balanced budget for the
2003-04 school year, in Seaforth last
night (Tuesday. June 10). The public
is now invited to provide input into
the budget on Monday. June 16 at
7:30 p.m., also in Seafort-h, with
trustee approval planned for the
board’s next regular meeting,
Tuesday, June 24.
Trustees of the Huron-Perth
Catholic District School Board,
meanwhile, received details of their
own balanced budget at their regular
meeting, Monday, June 9. A public
meeting will be held tonight
(Wednesday, June 11) in Clinton,
with trustees expected to convene a
special meeting immediately
afterward, in order to approve the
document.
According to a media release, the
proposed Avon Maitland budget
reflects a five per cent spending
increase compared to 2002-03,
pushing the board’s total balance
sheet to $139 million. The release
explains that the document was
created “without the intense debate
on programs and services to cut”
which characterized the past two
years' budget consultations, and that
the harmony comes “as a result of
increased government funding.”
The 2003-04 Huron-Perth budget
is valued at approximately $39.5
million, an increase of almost nine
per cent over the previous year.
According to Avon Maitland
communications manager Steve
Howe, much of the money
represents the provincial
government’s response to the
Rozanski Report, compiled by an
independent commission which held
consultations across Ontario in late
2002.
County
to discuss
new N. Huron
ambulance
station
By Keith Roulston
Citizen publisher
Huron County’s ambulance
service will hold meetings with
stakeholders in northern Huron
County to discuss a new ambulance
station in Wingham.
The county is currently leasing a
station from the Wingham and
District Hospital but when the lease
runs out a new station may be built.
“We’ve promised the paramedics
improvements,” said Paul Klopp,
chair of the agriculture, public
works and seniors committee.
Warden Dave Urlin told council
that North Huron is looking for a
new police station and there might
be an opportunity to link the police
and ambulance together in a new
location.
However North Huron Councillor
Doug Layton cautioned that
although there had been some talk of
that possibility, “time is a big
factor.”
The police department is also
looking at the possibility of
renovating the armories in
Wingham. Layton said he would be
meeting with the police service
board to discuss the issue. “There is
potential (for co-operation) there.”
Howe says it’s possible more
money will become available before
the 2003-04 year is complete.
Currently, he notes, another
committee headed by Dr. James
Downey is holding consultations,
including one last week in
Woodstock, with the aim of advising
the government on how to distribute
its $50-million Rural Education
Strategy fund.
No Avon Maitland board
representatives were present at the
Woodstock consultation, although a
written submission has already been
sent to Downey’s group. And the
district was not without
representation in Woodstock;
Huron-Perth Chair Bernard Murray
and management superintendent
Gerry Thuss attended, as did a
member of a Holmesville-area
parent group.
Thuss described the session as a
“roundtable” format, with Downey
making some introductory remarks
then settling in to listen to comments
from a number of rural education
stakeholders. He confirmed there’s a
good chance additional 2003-04
funding could result from Downey’s
work, as well as from a couple of
other minor potential government
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funding initiatives.
“As far as I know, there are two or
three amounts that may still be
allocated under this year’s budget,”
Thuss said.
The proposed Avon Maitland
budget “reflects additional money
for special education, key new
initiatives including the Students-at-
Risk program, enhanced Early
Reading programs, as well as
increased salaries,” states the
board’s media release.
“The increase in special education
funding totals $2.5 million and will
allow the board to hire more
resource staff and enhance education
assistant support. It marks the first
year that the board has not run a
deficit in special education,” the
release states.
Those same types of programs are
highlighted in the written version of
a presentation delivered by Thuss to
Huron-Perth trustees on June 9. That
presentation explains that “major
initiatives in the expenditure plan
include: coordinator for at-risk
students; compensation increases
reflecting (Education) Ministry
adjustments to salary benchmarks . .
. (and) increased allocation for
professional development support.”
Another highlight is the
implementation of phase two of the
board’s Elementary Library
Revitalization program.
Thuss’s report also celebrates the
government’s move to so-called
“live” assessment to decide which
special education students qualify
for Intensive Support Amount (ISA)
funding. This, coupled with an
increase in per-pupil special
education dollars, “resulted in an
increase of $555,000,” states Thuss’s
report, and “restores funding that has
been diverted from other areas in the
past to support special education
programs.”
“What a difference a year makes,”
commented Avon Maitland Chair
Meg Westley.
“This time last year we were in an
extremely difficult position . . .
We’ve moved a long way, especially
in special education.”
The funding increases come
despite projected enrolment declines
at both boards, the result of a
continued demographic dip and the
end of the fifth year of high school in
Ontario. The Avon Maitland media
release notes, however, that the
enrolment drop, projected to
continue at least through 2010, “has
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Team and camp-wide challenges
business superintendent Janet Baird-
Jackson warning trustees that they’ll
have to curb spending in the future.”
Baird-Jackson isn’t alone in
tempering her optimism with a dose
of reality. Westley takes a similar
approach. “The good news is that
we’re able to table a balanced
preliminary budget,” Westley said,
adding the board has received over
$6 million in new funding since the
provincewide Rozanski review.
But the Stratford trustee added a
note of caution. “That doesn’t quell
all worries. There is still some
unfinished business to tend to,” she
said, pointing to long-term funding,
outdated benchmarks used to set
funding levels, and money for
transportation.
Likewise, in his budget
presentation, Thuss highlighted the
Catholic board’s continued
frustration with the provincial
government’s approach to
transportation funding.
“Funding continues to be based on
1997 grant levels that have been
adjusted for enrolment and funding
enhancements,” the management
superintendent’s report states, under
the heading of “No New Funding
Model (for transportation).”
7