The Foothills School Division has approved its 2022-23 education plan and budget.
The division has been open about its need to decrease its deficit, initiating multiple public engagement opportunities in recent months.
According to assistant superintendent, corporate services and FSD secretary-treasurer Drew Chipman, the 2022-2023 operating budget outlines $93.9 million in revenue and $95.4 million in planned expenditures. This leaves a projected deficit of just over $1.5 million.
"This budget does see quite a bit of reductions," he said. "We were very clear that we wanted to do our best to make sure that we were seeking consultation."
Through that consultation, Chipman said priorities continue to be the presence of teachers and educational assistants in classrooms as much as possible, with cuts being made to preserve that.
However, the budget does outline a three per cent reduction in teaching staff and five per cent reduction in support staff from last year, he said.
Other changes include a reduction in custodial services, reduced division office staff and administrative changes in Blackie and Cayley – which will no longer have vice-principals in their schools. Highwood High School in High River will also move down to one vice-principal from two.
Transportation fees for unfunded students (those who live outside the eligible area or attend a school outside their area) will increase and funded students will also see the introduction of a fee. Fees for funded students will begin Feb. 1, 2023 and will cost $150 for a full year. The maximum any family will be required to pay is 2.5 times the student rate.
"We've been running deficits in transportation for quite a while," said Chipman. "And when we did our consultation people wanted us to make sure that we're prioritizing the classroom.
"So, a lot of school divisions in province have put these into place and in the past we've kind of been an outlier. But now that we're no longer able to run significant deficits, that's one of the areas that we're just not going to be able to cover."
Insurance has also been a significant expenditure for the division, he added, with costs increasing approximately 400 per cent in the last four years. This is partially due to the significant losses the division experienced during the 2013 floods.
According to Chipman, FSD is paying $900,000 more in insurance than a division of a similar size.
The division's technology fee is going up from $15 to $25, although all schools will see increased bandwidth. FSD is also working to install "evergreen" technology, like Smartboards, in classrooms. Fees for band students will also be increasing.
Easter break will be increased to 10 days, including Good Friday and Easter Monday.
FSD has also chosen to implement an early retirement incentive plan, which nine teachers took this year, Chipman said. This allows senior, higher paid teachers to transition to retirement while retaining lower cost teachers.
He added the 2022-23 budget is a positive one, given that great education is being prioritized for all FSD students.
The division also approved year two of its education plan.
The FSD board of trustees voted to move from a rolling education plan to a fixed education plan last year, according to assistant superintendent of learning services Caroline Roberts. Although plans are approved on a three-year timeline, strategies to achieve the desired goals are reassessed consistently based on available data to ensure maximum effectiveness.
"If we're looking at data around social emotional learning [or] around literacy and numeracy, what we do each year is then review the impact of the strategies we've implemented and then we update or revise those strategies as as the education plan evolves, and we look at the impact of the strategies we've implemented," she said.
Roberts explained that in developing an education plan, the division sought feedback from various groups, including teachers, support staff, students and parents.
She said feedback indicated stakeholders put highest value on learning experiences, transferable learning like problem solving, communicating and critical thinking, as well as meeting the needs of students when it comes to overall well-being.
"Our priority is that of student growth and achievement and so most of our goals are in advancing student growth and achievement, in ensuring student success," said Roberts, who added that specific goals are aimed at literacy and numeracy, First Nation, Inuit and Métis student success, learning that transfers, teaching, learning and leading, as well as innovation and design.
Roberts said that moving to a three-year plan allows for flexible and responsive learning strategies, which became especially important during the pandemic.
