Seine River trustees plan ‘balanced approach’ to deal with school division’s $5.8-M deficit after provincial review

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This article was published 22/03/2024 (924 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Decision-maker oversights and high turnover in a rural board office are to blame for a surprise deficit in the Seine River School Division, a provincial investigation has found.

Manitoba Education is wrapping up its formal review of the financial fiasco affecting schools in Ile des Chenes, St. Norbert and surrounding communities in southeastern Manitoba.

At the same time, area trustees are finalizing a three-year plan to recuperate millions of dollars that were overspent this year and break even before their term is up in 2026.

The division’s deficit is anticipated to reach $5.8 million by the end of June.

“There was no malfeasance here at all,” Education Minister Nello Altomare told the Free Press. “(SRSD officials) have a real plan to come out of this and we look forward to continuing our partnership with them.”

Altomare tapped an accountant with 35 years of experience working in the public school system to examine the Lorette-based school division’s finances in January.

Consultant Vince Mariani was asked to review budget documents, evaluate preparation processes and provide advice to division administration to establish a deficit-reduction plan. Mariani’s official report is expected to be released in the coming weeks.

Shortly after joining SRSD over the summer break, a new chief financial officer — the fourth to take on the position since 2020 — reviewed the 2023-24 budget and flagged some concerns to colleagues and the governing board of trustees.

This time last year, the board announced it had a $3-million surplus. In the fall, decision-makers revealed the division was actually in the red and internal accounting errors were to blame.

Administration initially indicated some revenue sources had been double-counted, anticipated salary settlement costs were not fully factored into the approved projections and there had been a failure to account for “reasonably anticipated costs.”

Manitoba Education sources indicated the department’s probe echoed internal findings related to improper calculations and an absence of checks and balances in SRSD.

Seine River’s board approved a $69.3-million budget for 2024-25 this week and in doing so, hinted at the first steps of the deficit-reduction plan.

Property education taxes are slated to increase five per cent during the upcoming school year. Trustees also provided a heads-up that local fees will rise an additional six per cent in 2025-26.

Superintendent Ryan Anderson said the board decided to take a “balanced approach” to recover funds while serving their constituents. “(That means) weighing the raising of taxes against the reduction or scaling-back of staffing, supplies, services,” said Anderson, who has overseen the division since July 2022.

SRSD is planning to find $3.6 million in savings by reducing its overall staffing roster by approximately six professional positions, decreasing administrative budgets, forgoing the purchase of new school buses — each with a price tag of about $225,000 — and ending a beloved Grade 1 preparatory program.

During budget deliberations Wednesday, trustee Theresa Bergson expressed her frustration about the proposal to end the Kids at Play program for kindergartners.

“The direction that we are going in is detrimental — to leave things behind — and I think that we’re not listening to our public. We’ve had numerous emails. We’ve had numerous phone calls, discussions, presentations,” Bergson said.

Ultimately, the budget passed in a 7-2 vote. Trustees Bergson and Gary Nelson voted against it.

Christine Hollyoake, a mother of two, called the decision to end KAP and not find an innovative solution to maintain it “so short-sighted.”

“What they’ve lost is the investment into early education for these kids, especially the ones who’ve been through a pandemic,” Hollyoake said, adding her family is considering moving to another division so her youngest, who will begin kindergarten in 2026, can access full-day programming.

The board will give schools the power to charge for field trips and extracurriculars next year. It is also introducing fees for hyperlocal busing for kindergarten-to-Grade 4 students outside of what it is provincially obligated to provide.

While the province has yet to formally approve the deficit-reduction plan, board chairwoman Wendy Bloomfield said the government has provided guidance to support SRSD’s three-year strategy.

Altomare said he is optimistic that trustees are taking steps to ensure the same errors are not made in the future.

Among the internal changes underway, the division is reorganizing its account management processes and bolstering financial reporting to trustees to keep them in the know throughout the year.

The secretary-treasurer has also started accounting for every individual staff member’s status when drafting a budget instead of relying on average wages.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca