More cuts loom as Thames Valley board faces $6.4M budget hit

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More cuts loom at the Thames Valley District school board as it faces a $6.4-million budget hit for inflated enrolment projections on top of its $7.6-million deficit.

Nearly 600 fewer students showed up at schools in September than the board projected, leading to a $6.4-million decrease in provincial funding, trustees learned at a board committee meeting this week.

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The board already slashed its 2024-25 budget by $11 million in June through cuts that included 58 elementary and 24 high school teaching positions, along with 17 early childhood educator jobs and four positions in speech and psychological services.

Sandra Macey, manager of financial services for the Thames Valley board, told trustees at the committee meeting that enrolment at the board’s elementary schools in September was 257 students lower than the board forecast. High school enrolment was down 330 students from the board’s projections, she said.

“Enrolment has increased year over year but by a smaller margin than predicted,” Macey said. “Budget reduction strategies will be reviewed to offset the expected increase in this deficit.

“The board will be updated on the revised deficit,” she said.

To be compliant with Ministry of Education rules, school boards cannot have deficits of more than one per cent of their budget, Macey said.

Total enrolment figures were not shared at the meeting, but in the board’s 2024-25 budget approved in June, staff forecast enrolment at the elementary level would decrease by more than 400 pupils in September and increase at the high school level by about 90 students. Total enrolment was projected to be 84,112 students at the boards 158 schools.

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The enrolment miss is the result of a slowdown in construction projects due to high interest rates, officials have said.

The lower enrolment leaves the board with a surplus of 32 full-time teachers, meaning smaller class sizes, Macey said.

Looming cuts due to the $6.4 million budget hit should not affect students in the classroom, a London trustee said.

“I am very reluctant to cut programs and spending in classrooms,” Marianne Larsen said. “If we are going to find savings this year due to a mistake that we made with over-projections, (we need) to find the savings outside the classroom.”

The board paused a plan last month to eliminate 36 classes at elementary schools across its system due to its flawed forecast after an emergency meeting with a teachers union.

“We can’t rescind those teacher contracts, they have been placed in classrooms and are teaching – that’s done,” Larsen said.

A financial recovery plan was presented to trustees in June, said Cathy Lynd, the board’s superintendent of business and treasurer.

“We are working now on revised estimates to see what can be done and reporting back on that and what the future will look like for the deficit reduction plan,” she said. “We are looking at what we can do to mitigate that $6 million and reduce it to a lower level.”

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Trustees will be updated on the budget in January, Lynd said.

The major drivers of the deficit are unfunded statutory benefits, unfunded short-term supply staff costs for absences and a lack of funding for special education costs, Lynd said earlier this year.

The Thames Valley board is undergoing an operational audit by the Ministry of Education as part of the fallout of a three-day Toronto retreat for 18 senior administrators in August that cost more than $38,000 and led to paid leaves of absences for education director Mark Fisher and associate director Linda Nicholls.

HRivers@postmedia.com

@HeatheratLFP

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