The board members of the North East School Division will have fewer, longer, more intense meetings to cope with a 49 per cent cut to their governance budget.
Due to a mandate by the provincial government, the division will have slightly less than $237,000 available to spend on meetings and training, in the 2017-18 school year, compared to $459,000 the year before.
To deal with the cut, the division has decided to only hold one meeting per month, with the committee of the whole in the morning and the public meeting in the afternoon.
Part of the savings will come from reduced travel.
“That was part of the decision to go with an all-day meeting,” said Marla Walton, the division’s vice-chair, after the May 30 board meeting. “That’s to reduce our transportation costs.”
Don Rempel, the division’s director of education, said the board will receive the meetings’ agenda and the information associated with it earlier so that they can better prepare for the all-day meetings.
The division will also no longer have an internal audit committee that examines its spending and ensures it is getting value for its dollar. Due to the cut, the division could no longer afford an external expert to work with the committee. That committee’s duties will be transfered to the committee of the whole.
Walton said the changes will be something different that the board members will have to get used to.
“I don’t think it’s going to affect our effectiveness,” she said. “We’re still a very competent board, we’ll still be able to tackle the tough decisions that are brought forward to us. I have 100 per cent confidence in the board.”
Also part of the cuts are training session for the board members to improve their knowledge of the issues they face. That would include the Saskatchewan School Board Association’s spring and fall sessions.
Division pays for court case
After years of telling the public section of the Saskatchewan School Board Association that it was not going to pay any more money towards a court case about government funding to non-Catholics attending Catholic schools, the division voted to pay what was owed.
The amount owed was $72,420.
“We just felt it was part of our obligation, to pay the outstanding amount,” Walton said.
The division is to make it clear that it has no plans to pay any more money towards the court case or any future appeal.
PST change increases Tisdale reno cost
The increase in the PST has hit the school division, requiring more to be spent on renovations to the Tisdale office.
The board voted to increase the maximum it will pay for the renovations from $1.3 million to $1.5 million. It also awarded the contract for $1.2 million plus tax.
To pay the PST, an extra $79,000 will be needed. At the same time, the division also decided to increase its contingency for the project from five to 10 per cent.
