THUNDER BAY -- The city’s public school board has to wait another month before finding out where cuts will be made in this year’s budget.
Lakehead Public Schools’ superintendent of business David Wright said the Ministry of Education told school boards across the province to expect a one to two per cent reduction in revenues this year.
But they won’t know where those reductions will be until they receive the grants package from the government at the end of March.
That package includes 98 per cent of the board’s budget.
“We all know the province of Ontario is facing tough economic times again so we anticipate another tough budget year, but we will do the best we can with the funding we receive,” said Wright on Tuesday afternoon.
The cuts are a consistent message from the ministry with the board being told to expect up to three per cent in cuts last year.
“It’s a tough one because until the grants package is released at the end of March, we really don’t know where the ministry to going to target their funding reductions because some of the money is enveloped,” said Wright.
In the meantime, Lakehead Public Schools is putting together departmental budgets to roll into a board-wide budget so when they do receive the funding outline from the ministry, they can look at where to make cuts.
The budget process for the board began in January; guiding principles and preliminary timeline were approved and a chair and vice-chair were elected.
Input from invited stakeholders, including unions, parents and student councils, will take place on April 7.
Board approval of the budget is set for late June. Once approved, it will be submitted to the Ministry of Education.
