Education council rejects district budget for 2nd time over EA funding shortfall

Superintendent Gregg Ingersoll isn't sure what happens now that the Anglophone East district education council has rejected the district's proposed budget for the second time.

The refusal at the meeting on Sept. 17 came down to the shortfall in funding for educational assistants.

"It just seems to be one of those areas that we can't seem to catch up to and keep on top of," Ingersoll told Information Morning Moncton.  "The needs for students that need support in the school just continues to climb."

He anticipated having 472 educational assistants in the district's 38 schools this fall, but the number has continued to climb and the district is short about $1.7 million to pay for them. 

• Anglophone East School District short $2M for educational assistants   
• Anglophone South rejects budget to protest EA funding shortfall

"The way that we're funded for those educational assistants is we get a certain amount," he said. "And if you go over that number then you have to find the difference in your global budget."

In the budget presented, the money needed to fund enough educational assistants to support students under the inclusion policy is coming from other areas.

If you're going to be an inclusive school system, you're going to say … 'Everyone's welcome, no matter what,' then OK — we have to fund that properly.- Gregg Ingersoll, superintendent

"I think that's what the district education council is having the hardest time with," Ingersoll said.

"They don't mind taking some money out of, for example, teachers salaries or facilities … but when it reaches the point where they feel that that's being detrimental to the area that they're taking it from, that's where they're getting frustrated."

Ingersoll said district staff were lucky to find a way to balance the budget at all. It is only because enrolment in the district is up by about 400 students since June that it was possible.

"That's going to bring close to a million dollars worth of resources to our district," he said. "Most of that is due to the immigration of international students in our area, so that's a very positive thing."

'I've never seen this before'

Even though enrolment is growing, the district hasn't been able to add as many teachers as it would like because some of the funding for teachers is going to pay educational assistants.

"You need more teachers right? So we're going to use some of that money to put toward teachers, but we have to use most of that money to cover off the deficit. And education assistants is the biggest deficit line that we have."

After rejecting the proposed budget, the district education council penned a letter to Education Minister Dominic Cardy, asking to meet with him about the funding shortfall.

"They're thinking that [Cardy] would come and meet with them and discuss this situation and talk about what the plan is in the future to fix this, so we don't every year keep falling deeper and deeper into this hole."

Ingersoll hopes that council will be able to reach an agreement with Cardy and will then be prepared to approve the budget at the next meeting, on Oct. 15.

"If you're going to be an inclusive school system, you're going to say … everyone's welcome, no matter what, then OK — we have to fund that properly."

Cardy not talking

CBC News requested an interview with Cardy to talk about the budget shortfall for educational assistants across the province, but the minister has not been available.

In an emailed statement he said he was aware of challenges created by classroom composition in today's schools. 

"While I appreciate the challenges district education councils face in establishing priorities, they are legally required to submit a balanced expenditure plan and cannot incur deficits." 

There was no indication of whether the minister has received the letter from the district education council or whether he plans to meet with the members.

People are fed up

The average age of schools in Anglophone East is 46 years and much of the maintenance budget for the buildings has been shifted to instead pay for educational assistants.

Ingersoll said even though "we don't have much choice but to do that," it is another example of the tough choices the district education council wants to discuss with Cardy.

"People used to be, 'Well that's just the way it is, so move on.' People are much less likely to do that now," he said.

"They're just fed up and they want something different to happen. And they're realistic about it. It's not like we think that millions of dollars is going to fall from the sky … they really want to be part of the conversation to shift the way we fund things and the programs we offer."