MEDICINE HAT, AB – Our three local school divisions all approved their 2021/22 budgets with deficits this week.
The budgets are built on estimates for the next school year.
A budget update will be provided in the fall when actual student numbers are known.
For Medicine Hat Public School Division, they’re in a deficit position of $757,000.
Superintendent Mark Davidson says the budget was unusual, but not unplanned. It will help them adjust to the government’s funding model.
Normally, they present budgets that are balanced or have a small deficit.
But this year there was a significant decline in student enrolment.
“We see those students coming back but the weighted moving average model that the government employs in order to finance the school system will see the revenue drop as student enrolment starts to recover next year. So we will actually have fewer dollars to support more students,” he said.
MHPSD was down more than 300 students this past year, Davidson expects to recover about 70 percent of students in the fall.
He adds administration presented a deficit budget with the intent of spending reserves down.
Which will allow MHPSD to take care of capital projects like school maintenance and repairs. It will also stabilize staffing while their enrolment recovers on the other side of COVID.
Meantime, the Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education approved their 2021/22 budget on Wednesday night.
Highlighting the MHCBE budget is an expected increase in international students to the division. The budget shows a deficit of $355,565. The division says this is due to a combination of factors, including the end of the federal COVID-19 response grant.
Prairie Rose Public Schools also approved their preliminary budget. Overall, the division is forecasting a deficit budget for the 2021/22 school year of $733,873, with revenues for the year of $51,443,598.
