Latest news with #educationBudget
CTV News
02-07-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Rainbow board OKs $266M budget with focus on student success
The exterior of the Rainbow District School Board office in Greater Sudbury, Ont. on August 2020 (File photo/CTV News Northern Ontario) The Rainbow District School Board has approved a $266.4 million budget for the 2025-2026 school year, with a planned withdrawal of $258,382 from reserves to balance expenditures. The amount falls within the one per cent limit of the board's operating revenue, as permitted by the Ministry of Education. Trustees also approved an in-year deficit plan to align spending with revenue. Budget focused on student success and well-being David Farrow - Rainbow District School Board An undated profile picture of Rainbow District School Board chair David Farrow. (File photo/Rainbow District School Board) Board Chair David Farrow said the budget prioritizes student achievement and well-being. 'We are proud of the programs that we offer inside and outside of the classroom,' he said in news release. 'Our instructional leaders, teachers and support staff give students every opportunity to achieve their full potential.' The budget accounts for inflationary pressures, including rising utility costs, and incorporates additional provincial funding for early reading, math, skilled trades, mental health, and school safety. Enrolment and funding breakdown Projected enrolment for the 2025-2026 school year is 14,196 students, based on historical retention rates, grade progression, and population trends. Core Education Funding from the province, which increased by approximately two per cent, supports six key areas: classroom staffing, learning resources, special education, school facilities, student transportation, and board administration. Adjustments include a new funding model for special needs equipment, continued support for transportation, and capital renewals for schools. Churchill Public School students Churchill Public School students Beren Kiziloglu, left, and Dacian Radu solve a math problem. (Supplied/Rainbow District School Board) Targeted funding through Responsive Education Programs will support early reading interventions, digital math tools, Indigenous graduation coaches, skilled trades, and mental health initiatives. Additional investments include early literacy screening for kindergarten to Grade 2 students, broadband improvements, and the installation of vape detectors in schools. Budget allocations and strategic priorities Salaries and benefits account for 76.7 per cent ($204.5 million) of the budget, while supplies and services – including facility maintenance and school technology – make up 7.8 per cent ($20.8 million). Another 7.7 per cent ($20.5 million) is allocated to fees and contracts, including student transportation. The board will also receive $15.7 million for school renewal projects. The budget supports the fourth year of the board's strategic plan, which focuses on student achievement, literacy and numeracy, Truth and Reconciliation, mental health, environmental sustainability, and equity. Programs and facilities In the upcoming school year, the board will operate 29 elementary and nine secondary schools across Sudbury, Espanola, and Manitoulin Island. It also oversees specialized programs, including mental health services, alternative education, Indigenous-led initiatives, and partnerships with institutions like Cambrian College. 'We are channeling funds into teaching and learning where they will have the greatest impact on student success,' Farrow said. The budget was approved during a special board meeting on June 24.
RNZ News
20-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Budget: Schools expecting more support for disabled students, ECEs and universities less optimistic
Berhampore School principal Mark Potter. Photo: RNZ / John Gerritsen Schools are expecting more support for disabled students in this week's government Budget. Education Minister Erica Stanford has told the sector to expect a "learning support Budget" and leaks show she has been planning to can a major education initiative to bankroll at least some of the spending. Learning support has been a consistent pressure point for schools. This week a report warned students could die because of a lack of resourcing and last month teacher union the Educational Institute Te Riu Roa urged the government to boost spending on learning support by nearly $800 million a year. Berhampore School principal and NZEI immediate past president Mark Potter was once rebuked for using property funding to assist pupils with disabilities. He told RNZ learning support funding was what schools needed the most from the Budget, but his hopes were not high. "We hear a lot of talk about there being something about learning support in here, but we've got decades of just talk. Just shifting a bit of resource from here to there is not what we need. What we really need is some serious, genuine long-term investment like the military just got, but we've been waiting longer," he said. Three separate leaks, two to RNZ and one to the Labour Party, indicated at least some of the money for learning support would come from axing the Kāhui Ako scheme, which paid 4000 teachers extra to guide training and collaboration in groups of schools. That would divert as much as $118m a year to help for disabled learners. Kāhui Ako had strong support from some principals but Waikato Principals Association president Lesley Lomas said there was only so much money to go around and learning support was a big issue. "It's a priority for all of us. We have consistently been asking for support in this area so we realise there's not a new bit of pie, we probably have to make some adjustments from one area of the education sector to another," she said. The government had already announced extra funding in other problem areas for schools. Truancy would receive an extra $140m over four years, nearly half of it taken from other education schemes, and maths teaching would receive $100m, also over four years. In the early learning sector, Early Childhood Council chief executive Simon Laube said centres were closing because of the gap between government subsidies and the cost of running an early childhood service. "Areas where their families are struggling are not doing very well. It's very hard to run a viable centre in any community where the families can't contribute anything to make up the shortfall in funding to make some of these policies work," he said. Laube said the council's members were nervous about the Budget and were hoping for an increase in government subsidies and no surprises. At the other end of the education system, universities feared a temporary four percent funding increase designed to help them through a tough couple of years would be allowed to lapse. Chris Whelan from Universities New Zealand last year said that would be catastrophic . This week he told RNZ it would hurt, but universities were prepared. "We've been given high-level messages not to expect much or all of it to continue. Probably the best thing is having those early messages meant that universities have been able to take decisions with that in mind. It's going to be tough if it's not maintained but universities have now built it into some of their assumptions. We've essentially had six to eight months to prepare for it," he said. Meanwhile, the government wanted to stand up a new industry training system and some individual polytechnics from the remains of mega-institute Te Pukenga next year. Whether there was enough in Te Pukenga's kitty to bankroll that or if it would require additional funding was a question the Budget should answer. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
