The Chinook’s Edge School Division Board of Trustees recently approved a $140 million dollar budget for the 2024-2025 school year.
Overall, CESD Superintendent Kurt Sacher calls it a really good news story because they are able to maintain essentially a status quo budget. He says they are budgeting for a deficit of just over $571,000 dollars. He says “Keep in mind it is a $140 million dollar budget and the Alberta government will still allow us to use our reserves and our reserves are healthy enough that we can afford that. Obviously over the long haul, we can’t continue to have a deficit budget but in the big scheme of things with a budget of our size we are in a pretty good position moving forward. We’ve been able to sustain class sizes and staffing levels as we’ve had in the past, so we are really appreciative of that.”
Sacher adds, they have seen their enrolment increase a little bit over the past few years, so that has been a positive addition. He says “With the funding model that currently exists there is a weighted formula, so it’s like a little bit of a tape delay between as your numbers go up, you do get some of the funding but not all of it until a year or two go by and then the formula kicks in. So, overall, it’s working for us and we’re moving forward.”
He points out that Chinook’s Edge is a little bit concerned with a decrease in their transportation funding, as they expected another $440,000 over and above what they received. Sacher says they are making their way through next year and hoping that kind of pattern doesn’t continue. He adds, the board has been able to just hold the fees where they are at right now, so hopefully that isn’t a problem because they never want to raise fees if they don’t have to.
According to a CESD press release, it is anticipated the local school division’s reserves at the end of the 2024-2025 school year will be $4.7 million dollars.