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OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, June 5, 2009 · 10 Board staff learning from budget consultation By Tina Depko OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF The Halton District School Board administrative staff says they are happy with the outcome of four public budget meetings held during the past month -- despite low attendance. School board staff went out to each of Halton's four communities to present a draft of the 2009-10 budget. There were eight people at each meeting in Acton and Burlington, and 20 at each of the Oakville and Milton meetings. However, Steven Parfeniuk, Oakville Yacht Squadron · · · · · Great Summer Fun for Youth Ages 7 and up! Day Camp runs July & August Adult Programs Available Staff now on-site daily CYA accredited instructors For more info contact: 905 338-9379 oysheadinstructor@hotmail.com www.oysqn.com/sailingschool.html or come visit us! (97 Forsythe Street, on the west side of 16 Mile Creek) Come Sail Away ... in support of Habitat for Humanity Halton Afternoon Luncheon & Cruise Saturday, June 27th 12:30 p.m. boarding Tickets $65/person superintendent of business services and treasurer, said it was a fruitful process. "I'm very pleased with the response and I think it is part of what we should be doing," he said. "We spend public dollars and I think it is important that the public who wants to, can understand how we spend our money and if the public wants to provide input on investments or priorities to the school board, I think they should have the formal opportunity to do that." The main issue of the 2009-10 budget is that the board is facing a $2.5 million reduction in funding from the Ministry of Education. The reduction comes in the areas of professional development ($800,000), computer technology ($650,000), textbooks and learning materials ($650,000), and special education ($370,000). Parfeniuk said administrative staff has identified $2.5 million of its own reductions to ensure the board meets the legislative requirement of a balanced budget. He added some of the areas hit by reductions from the ministry actually won't be impacted due to the board shifting funds. One such unaffected area for 2009-10 is textbooks and learning materials. Another area unaffected amidst ministry cuts is special education, as administrative staff is striving to offer the same level of programs as in 2008-09, as well as provide additional resources. The board is also planning on charging five learning resource teachers to the Evening Dinner & Cruise Friday, June 26th 6:30 p.m. boarding Tickets $79/person YMCA SUMMER CAMP: UT SOLD O Saturday, June 27th 6:30 p.m. boarding Including Fireworks Tickets $89/person PREPARE TO PLAY & HAVE FUN! 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TICO Reg. #50015324. www.vision2000.ca special education funding envelope, as opposed to the past number of 10, fundamentally increasing the funding available for programs and services, according to Parfeniuk. The importance of special education was one common theme among the public budget meetings in all four communities, Parfeniuk said. "Clearly, there is a feeling that we need to make sure we are meeting the needs from a program point of view of our highest-need students, and that is clearly something we talked about in all four municipalities," he said. Another common theme was transportation, as well as the impact of increasing population in the region. Halton is currently the fastest growing school board in Ontario. "We had a lot of discussion on the impact of the growth in Halton and how we are managing it and what we're doing in terms of making sure we have the resources in schools," he said. Some of the recommended reductions listed in the current draft of the budget are professional development, information technology, prior year strategic plan initiatives, board printing, and utilities and maintenance. Increase expenditures are slated in areas such as transition teachers, provision for in-year enrolment growth, replacement of basketball winches, and cashless school software/hardware. There are also staffing increases proposed at schools across the region for 2009-10. A list of questions and answers raised at the public budget meetings will be posted on the board's website in the following week. "There were a lot of questions that will deal with everything, such as special education, the use of technology in our classrooms, energy utilization and how we can improve that, health and safety in our schools, etc.," Parfeniuk said. He said the information gathered at the meetings was valuable and will help form the 2009-10 budget final draft. "I believe I learned something about our budget in every one of the four communities and I believe our budget will be better as a result of what we learned from listening to the public," he said. The final draft of the budget is expected to be delivered to trustees on June 17. "I expect them to vote on the budget as early as June 17 or as late as the first week in July," said Parfeniuk. For information, including an overview presentation of the 2009-10 budget, go online to www.hdsb.ca/AboutUs/BusinessService s / P a g e s / 2 0 0 9 2010SchoolYearBudget.aspx.