GECDSB approves budget deficit for upcoming school year

CTV News

3 hours ago

Trustees for the Greater Essex County District School Board approved a nearly $1 million deficit for the upcoming fiscal year. June 17, 2025. (Robert Lothian/CTV News Windsor)
Trustees for the Greater Essex County District School Board approved a nearly $1 million deficit for the upcoming fiscal year, pointing to underfunding and declining enrolment.
Members received a grim snapshot of the board's finances on Tuesday afternoon before approving the 2025-2026 budget at its regular meeting.
Shelley Armstrong, the board's superintendent of business and treasurer, outlined the pressures highlighted by 'inadequate' funding from the Ministry of Education.
'There are several areas where the board experiences funding deficits because the funding allocation is inadequate to support the current expense structure,' Armstrong told trustees.
The budget outlines a preliminary deficit of $988,924 for the upcoming school year, but Armstrong noted that could change depending on enrolment.
Cuts and reductions were previously outlined in the board's multi-year financial recovery plan approved in November.
Under the changes, the board will cut some positions, and eliminate or phase out the International Baccalaureate program at multiple schools.
The Rise Program, a special education program providing individualized programming for students, will also be scaled back.
Several trustees stated the deficit would be erased if there was sufficient annual funding from the province.
'What we have is an inadequate funding model that leaves our board and every other board across the province at risk for decisions that are made at tables that we don't even have a seat at,' said trustee Ron Le Clair.
Trustees plan to send a letter to the provincial and federal governments highlighting desired changes and funding needs.
However, Mario Spagnuolo, president of the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario Greater Essex County local, told CTV News more action is needed.
'This is not a spending problem, this is a funding problem,' Spagnuolo said.
'You have trustees seeing that across the province of Ontario, you have MPPs across the province ignoring that, so we need to work together as a community to say we need to improve our schools.'
Another factor in the deficit is lagging enrolment levels based on current registration.
The board currently projects to have about 954 fewer students, but that could still increase depending on registration levels.
As part of its multi-year financial plan, the board must reach a balanced budget by the 2026-2027 school year.
'The budget process has always been difficult for as long as I've been a trustee because there are huge gaps in the funding that we have no control over,' Board chairperson Gale Hatfield told CTV News.
If the board fails to meet budget targets, it risks the province taking action to implement measures of its own.
Hatfield said she was 'confident' they will meet the necessary steps to avoid such a case.
'The experience that other boards have had with supervision is that the ministry comes in and makes decisions without any consideration of local conditions or local needs of the community, and so I don't see how that would serve our students in the best way,' Hatfield said.
When asked about the potential for future cuts to meet the targets, Armstrong said it's not off the table.
'Will there be further reductions coming? I would say it's fairly certain yes, we're going to have to do some more work,' Armstrong added.
The budget is now pending approval by the education minister.