‘Unfair’ funding hurting region’s schools—Haley
For Tri-County Regional School Board chair Faye Haley, the bottom line is that the similarly sized Strait board was given about $12 million more in provincial funding, although it has only 242 more students.
Strait Regional School Board received a $4.3 million supplement last year, although its enrollment dropped by 805 between 2001 and 2006. That’s $5,385 for each of the non-existent students.
The difference is the ‘enrollment decline supplement’, which Haley describes as one of the major flaws in the provincial education department’s funding formula that determines financing received by each of the province’s eight school boards.
In addition to compensating the Strait board for its declining enrolment, the formula guarantees no board will get less than it received before, which adds another $2.6 million to the Strait board’s allocation.
Haley said her board does not want money taken away from another board, but it wants students across the province to be treated fairly and equally. She said the formula may be transparent—but it isn’t fair.
“Nova Scotia needs to grow,” says Haley. “We need more businesses, more professionals, more people. But without a good education system, how can we attract the best?”
The allocation for Tri-County’s upcoming school year was announced in May and it was more than $3 million short of what is needed to provide students with the same service as last year.
The board was required to submit a balanced budget within two months of the May 16 announcement but has received an extension. The budget for 27 schools now contains 18 job losses at the board’s central office and 12.5 fewer teachers than planned for.
“Those central office jobs included our math consultant, math mentor, literacy consultant, and literacy mentor,” Haley said.
The teaching positions that were eliminated—which were in addition to 12 teacher positions already scrapped because of declining enrollment—meant the recent university graduates who thought they had been hired by the school board were out of a job.
On June 20, Education Minister Karen Casey announced the government would pick up the tab that reflects the increase in charges for fuel since February. So that means some relief for the Tri-County budget.
Haley said she is expecting further news and hopes there will be funds available to ensure the board is able to employ the classroom teachers that it needs to fulfill its obligation to students.
