Chinook’s Edge School Division will have to trim its $108-million budget by more than $680,000 after the provincial government slashed funding to boards.
The school division will receive $340,000 less from Alberta Education with the cancellation of the transportation fuel funding and $346,000 that the division would have received has been clawed back to help Alberta Education find budget savings.
“I think in the spring we had anticipated moving towards more challenging times,” said Jim Gibbons, superintendent of the Chinook’s Edge School Division. “So they had set aside a contingency fund aimed at staffing as our enrolments came in, but at least they had it there to address that fiscal correction.”
The Chinook’s Edge School Division board set aside $500,000 for a staffing contingency fund that will help to cover the shortfall.
He said they will be planning over this school year for the next school year.
“So you put everything on the table that isn’t tied directly to improved student learning and say can we elongate the implementation period for certain programs, can we make certain resources, technology last a little longer, all of those things allow us to get through a dip,” he said.