The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Friday June 27, 2008 - 5 Public school board approves 434-M budget By Tim Whitnell SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER Halton District School Board trustees have approved the operating and capital budgets for the 2008-09 school year with the overall spending increase lower than the previous year. Budget issues were debated for five hours at a workshop for trustees and board administrators on June 16 with a final discussion and vote held at the June 18 public school board meeting. The budget received unanimous trustee approval. The 2008-09 overall budget is $434.5 million. It is broken down into $407.9 million for day-to-day operations and $26.6 million for capital building needs. "With this budget, we are building on the investments and the board's operational objectives of 200708," Steven Parfeniuk, the board's treasurer and superintendent of business, said in a press release. "The 2008-09 budget reflects an ongoing commitment to student achievement and continual improvement of board programs and services for every student. In addition, the budget reflects the needs of a growing school board through investment in school teaching staff, school support staff and administrative staff," he added. Overall, the budget has increased $21.6 million, or 5.3 per cent, over the previous year due, the board says, to student enrolment growth of 2.7 per cent. Halton is one of only a handful growth boards among the 72 in the province. The previous year the Halton public board's combined budget went up 8.1 per cent. The latest Halton board budget is up almost $123 million since 2003-04. The board says that province-wide, education funding for 2008-09 has increased $315 million to $18.8 billion. "We are one of the few growing boards in the province, but we have different growth," Parfeniuk told trustees at the June 18 board meeting. "Burlington's (overall enrolment) is stable, while Oakville, Milton and Halton Hills will continue to grow. By 2014, it is projected that Milton will have more elementary students than Burlington." Parfeniuk said the down side to next year's budget is that money for special education is only keeping pace with the growth in overall student enrolment with funding for special needs pupils lagging at 2005-06 levels. He also noted that rising utility costs for electricity, diesel fuel and natural gas are outstripping the existing funding and that the board may have to go back to the Ministry of Education early in the next school year for additional money. Milton trustee Donna Danielli asked Parfeniuk if the 604 fulltime-equivalent (FTE) educational assistants (EA) for special education that are itemized in the 2008-09 budget means that there will be no reduction in the number of EAs for the fall. The superintendent simply stated, "Absolutely." The president of the EAs and the board superintendent who is responsible for special education have been at loggerheads of late with the former fearing the complement of EAs will be radically reduced by the start of the next school year but the latter maintaining no changes are expected. As is the case with other school boards around Ontario, salaries and benefits for teachers and other school personnel comprise the bulk of the Halton public board's expenditures with 58 per cent ($250.5 million) allotted for nearly 3,100 FTE teachers, the same cost percentage as the previous school year. Teacher costs also include all salaries and benefits for long- and short-term supply teachers. The second largest budget expenditure for the board is 18 per cent for other school staff, which covers salaries and benefits for principals, vice-principals, EAs, professional support staff, school office, caretaking and cleaning staff, and program leaders and con- "We are one of the few growing boards in the province, but we have different growth. Burlington's (overall enrolment) is stable, while Oakville, Milton and Halton Hills will continue to grow. By 2014, it is projected that Milton will have more elementary students than Burlington." Steven Parfeniuk, Halton District School Board treasurer and superintendent of business sultants. The other 24 per cent of budget expenses for 2008-09 includes capital costs for school renovations and debt servicing (6 per cent), facilities maintenance, supplies, services, cleaning contracts and utilities (5 per cent), school discretionary budgets and school-based programs (5 per cent), salaries and benefits for central administrators plus supplies, furniture and equipment for central administration (4 per cent), home-toschool and school-to-school transportation (3 per cent) and profession- al development support for schoolbased staff (1 per cent). "The 2008-09 budget, both operating and capital, reflects the priorities of the board as outlined in the 200710 Strategic Plan," said Wayne Joudrie, director of education of the Halton board. "It demonstrates a commitment to manage the issues that have resulted from a growing system and provides for continual support for program initiatives." The Halton District School Board's operational and capital budget document can be viewed at www.hdsb.ca. of-Town Servi & O u tce ort p Air OAKVILLE UNITED TAXI Wishing You a Safe & Happy Canada Day! EXPERIENCED DRIVERS YOU CAN DEPEND ON · · · · · Airport Flat Rates Out-of-Town Service Regular In-Town Service 10% Discount On Parcel Service GPS Computerized Dispatch · · · · · Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles Corporate Accounts Welcome Airport Customer Wake-Up Service 10% Senior Discount - In Town More Than 60 Taxis In Our Fleet 24 hour · 7 days a week 905.338.0044 PLEASE SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUSINESS If you are interested in joining our team, please call 905-338-1762