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Trustees of the Thames Valley District school board are clamping down on spending by pushing back against using professional development funds to send more trustees to a Toronto conference.
The show of financial restraint at a committee meeting Tuesday comes as the board wrestles with a projected deficit for the 2024-25 school year that began at $18.5 million and would fall to $7.6 million if trustees endorse proposed cuts, including the elimination of 124 positions.
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London trustee Lori-Ann Pizzolato said she was against spending any more professional development funds – even though there is $13,000 left in the fund – due “to where we are at with our deficit.
“I think we optically need to show we are cutting back as well,” she said. “I know these were last year’s funds, but I think we all need to contribute (to reducing the deficit). I wish we could send people.”
In total, three trustees will go, including First Nation trustee Carol Antone, to the 2024 Canadian School Boards’ Association’s national trustees’ gathering on Indigenous education in Toronto from July 3-5.
Trustee also didn’t approve accessing $745 in funds earmarked for governance.
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A preliminary $1.2-billion budget for 2024-25 school year released earlier this month calls for the elimination of 58 elementary and 24 high school teaching positions.
The board also proposes to cut 17 early childhood educator positions as well as jobs in speech and psychological services.
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Thames Valley has said no one would lose their jobs if the cuts are approved. Employees would be redeployed to fill vacant positions and those created by attrition.
The board plans to reduce its special education budget by almost $1 million by using tablets instead of laptops and cutting spending on security by $300,000, the report says.
One million dollars earmarked for school field trips would also be cut in half, the report says.
Other categories targeted for reductions include school budgets, printing and photocopying, textbooks and learning materials, as well as $2 million in cuts to instructional supplies.
Trustees are expected to approve the 2024-25 budget at a board meeting on June 25.
This week it was learned several top administrators at the Thames Valley board were paid 12- to 33-per-cent more in 2023 compared to the year before.
Craig Smith, president of the Thames Valley district of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, said the pay hikes send a “confusing signal” to staff as the board struggles with a deficit.
Education director Mark Fisher’s total compensation rose from $283,000 in 2022 to $326,000 in 2023, according to Ontario’s sunshine list, the annual rundown of income and taxable benefits paid to public workers making $100,000 or more.
“It’s tone deaf,” Smith said.
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