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3 | The IFP -H alton H ills | T hursday,July 4,2019 theifp.ca Facing the loss of mil- lions in provincial funding, Halton District School Board (HDSB) trustees passed an operating budget of almost $755 million last Wednesday, $8.3 million lower than the current year's budget. The "significant" short- fall in funding has resulted in the board being in the "unusual" position of run- ning a deficit of $2.5 million, while anticipating a 1.3 per cent increase in growth. "We will not be the only board in the province with a deficit budget this year," said Stuart Miller, HDSB's director of education. Challenges also resulted from increased operational pressures and a per pupil level of funding that is below the provincial average. Jobs and programs across the board have been slashed or outright elimi- nated. A total of 189 posi- tions are gone, affecting classroom teachers, teacher librarians, special educa- tion and ESL resource teachers, IT support, math coaches and corporate staff. Departmental budgets have been decreased in the areas of transportation, technolo- gy and professional devel- opment. Reductions to more than 800 classes available to sec- ondary students will result in higher secondary class sizes and possible cancella- tion of some compulsory and elective classes, said Miller. "We have lost $22 million in revenue due to new (Min- istry of Education) educa- tion reforms and changes in funding, and made con- scious decisions to reduce $25 million in costs. Of course, those are netted off by growth and the costs as- sociated with growth," said superintendent of business services, Roxana Negoi, who outlined a two-year def- icit recovery plan. Come this fall, fewer staff will be doing the work asso- ciated with those lost posi- tions. Staff will also be ab- sorbing the anticipated in- flux of 812 new students, said Negoi. There was some good news: Of the 154 elementary school teachers declared re- dundant several weeks ago, all but a few were recalled last week to permanent po- sitions and the remainder are anticipated to be re- called by Aug. 31, said Debra McFadden, human resourc- es executive officer. In the secondary panel, of the 154 teachers declared potentially redundant, 72 of those teachers have been re- called full time; 31 have been partially recalled, with the remaining 51 positions lost to the board, said McFad- den. With 24.85 students to every teacher this fall, the board moves toward a pro- vincial target of 28:1. HDSB's ratio is the highest in the province and growth factors into that equation, said McFadden. Every teacher vacancy generated by growth, retire- ment, resignation or leave of absence, is one fewer teach- ing position that must be protected. That position is therefore lost to the board and not replaced, and that's how class sizes rise, she ex- plained. "So, we can't hire teach- ers, so we just stuff class- rooms with more students," said HDSB chair Andrea Grebenc in a blunt interpre- tation of the challenging po- sition the board finds itself in this year due to funding shortfalls. "At the end of the day there are fewer teachers working with our students in our buildings and the im- pact of that is yet to be mea- sured," commented Halton Hills trustee Jeanne Gray. Miller and Negoi predict- ed even greater budgeting challenges next year. "At best, they'll be the same, but they won't get bet- ter," said Miller. "At this point in time we anticipate the challenges will be great- er and more positions will be lost." Longtime Oakville trust- ee Kelly Amos said she has never experienced a deficit budget before, "so this is a very unusual and difficult situation especially for the lowest funded board in the province. It's kind of con- cerning." Amos, along with other trustees, thanked staff for their hard work in coming up with a document "that we can live with but not happi- ly." "Many of us around the table are very ambivalent about this budget. There are things in there we wish we didn't have to present to trustees," added Miller. A capital budget of just over $64M was also passed. NEWS HDSB PASSES DEFICIT BUDGET IN WAKE OF DOUG FORD FUNDING CHANGES KATHY YANCHUS kyanchus@metroland.com THE ISSUE: FUNDING A GROWTH BOARD WITH A DEFICIT BUDGET LOCAL IMPACT: FEWER TEACHERS, COURSES; MORE PUPILS PER CLASSROOM STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Metroland Halton continues to shine a light on the challenges the Halton District School Board faced this year in compiling its budget in the face of significant provincial funding shortfalls and increased growth. 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