Trustees passed a balanced budget for the year, but unexpected costs and a drop in elementary enrolment have left the board short of funds.
Ottawa’s largest school board is facing a deficit of $4.2 million this year and must find between $17 and $20 million in savings to balance its 2025-26 budget.
The cuts will be painful, trustees at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board were warned on Tuesday.
“We are going to be bringing difficult decisions to the board of trustees,” said director of education Pino Buffone.
“We’ll do our very best to give the board choice when there is a reasonable choice in front of us. And when there’s not, we’ll bring you a rationale as to why we haven’t.”
What will be on the table? Most provincial funding is locked in to specific purposes and must meet provincial legislation, regulations and collective agreements. Provincial funding is not expected to increase and won’t address inflationary, replacement or special education pressures, trustees heard.
Finance staff have identified areas that are not funded and others where there is overspending. Most of these areas will not come as a surprise to trustees, said Buffone in an exchange with Trustee Lyra Evans.
“You will be aware of each and every one of those items,” said Buffone. “They are brought forward every year. Every one of those items is going to be painful, and is going to be something you can’t imagine not having. You will be familiar with each and every one of them.”
Trustee Lyra said she expects to be familiar with the items when the list comes forward.
“I know we’re not properly funded for equity positions. I know that’s going to be on the list,” she said. “I know we’re not funded for green initiatives. I know that’s going to be on the list. I know we’re not funded for many of the things we do in special education. I know there are going to be parts of that on the list.”
Evening Update
There have been four deficit budgets in a row for the OCDSB, which is currently under provincial financial supervision and has a total budget of about $1.1 billion.
The OCDSB used up surplus funds to finance two previous deficit budgets in 2021-22 and 2022-23 and had an unexpected deficit last year. The board still owes the province $11.1 million from last year’s deficit, said associate director of business operations Randall Gerrior.
Gerrior doesn’t anticipate that the board will be able to cover the $4.2-million shortfall by the end of this school year. Whatever is left over will be added to the board’s tab with the province, which is monitoring the board’s finances on a monthly basis.
School boards have been chronically underfunded in a number of areas including special education, covering inflation and replacement costs, said Gerrior.
“It’s gonna hurt. It’s gonna be changing our mindset and what we as a school board can do and deliver.”
Trustees passed a balanced budget for the 2024-2025 school year. But there were a number of unexpected events, including a centrally-negotiated contract settlement for teachers that was higher than the estimate sent to the province.
“One of the big challenges here for us is that this was not expected,” said Trustee Lynn Scott. “And certainly in conversations with trustees from Ontario public school boards, we are not the only ones who are in this situation.”
Besides underfunding, the OCDSB faces stagnant enrolment and increases in teacher pay negotiated in centralized bargaining.
The OCDSB anticipated average daily enrolment in elementary schools to be 50,938 students this year, but missed that target by 745 students. However, average secondary daily enrolment was 167 students higher than expected.
As a result of the drop in enrolment, the equivalent of 42 full-time elementary teacher positions were eliminated, resulting in $4.7 million in savings. No one was laid off and these positions were filled by occasional teachers. There was no change to secondary teaching positions as a result of enrolment increases in high schools.
On the plus side, the cost of paying replacement staff such as occasional teachers is about $1 million less than expected compared to last year. On the negative side, provincial funding still doesn’t cover the costs. Last year, the board got $16.6 million for replacement staff, but spent $32.1 million.
Maintenance costs were $6 million more than expected last year, and costs are expected to exceed estimates again this year. Many of the costs are contingent on the amount of snowfall, such as snow removal, said Gerrior.
There are also inflationary pressures. The OCDSB can’t increase its budgets for non-salary increases in areas such as supplies and services.
With a provincal election coming up, it will be important to challenge candidates on what they propose to do for public education, said Scott.
“The announcement about a billion dollars to help everyone get a family physician, that was great, really good the hear. But how about a billion dollars for public education? That might help a bit.”
The Ministry of Education requires school boards to approve and submit annual budget estimates by the end of June for the next school year, based on enrolment projections. The June estimates are revised in the fall to reflect actual enrolment levels.
The next budget meeting is Feb. 18. Academic staffing, which accounts for about 60 per cent of the budget, must be decided in March.
The final budget must be approved by June 23.
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