Regional Office –
Electoral Ward Review Bylaw Passes Two Readings
Trustees unanimously voted in favour of the first and second readings of Bylaw 06-2020 Establishment of Wards. The third reading of Bylaw 06-2020 will be brought forward for consideration at the Board’s regular meeting on August 5, 2020 where only a majority vote is needed to finalize the passing of the bylaw.
Financial Results as of May 31, 2020
As of May 31, 2020, the division is reporting a surplus of $324K which includes $1.7M in Capital Maintenance Renewal Funding that has been received by Alberta Education. These projects will be completed over the next few months so the related expenses are not reflected in the financial statements.
The funding reduction of $1.1M by Alberta Education due to COVID-19 has been allocated to individual budgets. The estimated savings from students not attending school from April through June is $400K.
Pembina Hills School Division is projecting a $1.5M deficit. In the fall of 2019 the division was initially planning for a $2.2M deficit budget.
Program Unit Funding (PUF) Update
Reductions in Program Unit Funding (PUF) and changes to the Early Learning program requirements by Alberta Education have created many challenges.
The elimination of mild-moderate funding means that fewer students with mild-moderate disabilities will be able to be accepted into our Early Learning programs. Currently 40 preschool children receive services under the mild-moderate funding. This funding served as a “safety net” for students who were identified with significant disabilities but didn’t meet the PUF criteria.
Alberta Education has increased the minimum program instruction time for PUF to 400 hours in order to qualify for funding. Programs will run four half days per week with some afternoons in order to share teachers between schools. Some programs that previously shared spaces with Kindergarten will need to move to a separate space in order to meet the 4 days per week requirement.
Check out the board meeting agenda and minutes for more information.
The next school board meeting is at the Regional Office on Wednesday, August 5, 2020 starting at 9:00 a.m. Members of the public are welcome to attend. There will no longer be a livestream feed to the board meeting.