2024-25 Preliminary Budget

Please review the Budget data discussed to date. The most recent hybrid (Zoom + Board In Person) Special Committee of the Whole (Board and education partners) meeting is taking place on May 14, 2024.

Documents will be added into the Documents Widget as they become available by MPSD Finance Staff.

December 5, 2023 COTW Minutes Excerpt:

Staff will add the recommendation from the presentation regarding Trade positions to the wishlist. Trustees would like to hear from the partner groups, about what their priorities are. The Strategic Plan gives us strong guidelines and priorities. There are budget implications from the Accessibility Committee recommendations.

March 5, 2025, COTW Minutes Excerpt RE: Budget Priorities:

This conversation was initiated in December 2023. The Board indicated that the Strategic plan is enough of a guidance. We have a list of items for considerations. We have not gotten any list from the trustees.

Comment: Direct support of students should be considered when determining budget priorities. The use of surplus funds is not recommended. Current teacher mentor positions/teacher lead blocks may need to be changed/re-directed to create new avenues of support. As well some exempt positions may need to be reduced or eliminated?

Suggestions reviewed (not in priority order):

1. Outreach Teacher for Non-Indigenous students to address attendance barriers for students from K to Grade 12
2. Increase counselling support at the middle schools
3. Ensure middle school principals/vice-principals do not have teaching blocks
4. 0.2 increase in administrative time (within an existing P/VP position) to provide support for SOGI Education
5. Trades Co-Ordinator Position to enhance/increase the number of students in the district exposed to opportunities in the trades
6. 0.2 or 0.4 increase in administrative time (within an existing P/VP position) to collect/collate/prepare and present data (assessment, attendance, etc)

MTU: recruitment and retention: if we are properly staffed, we have proper support, and we do not need to ask admins to teach.

CUPE: Bus drivers, BSWs, IT - we are short in every department. There are stats, that 25% of staff leave education within 5 years.

DPAC: EA shortage - how can we improve the situation? EA shortage is directly impacting student learning, where students are asked to stay home. Lack of resources - staff do not feel valued. Improve coverage for breaks. Dedicated TTOCs for certain schools - can we do something like that with EAs? Being told to stay home can be considered a human rights issue. Equity - parents cannot go to work to provide for the family. Mentor teachers are invaluable - entry level staff need help with the resources.

We are making progress on the quality of teachers in the system. We are still 3-4 years away from bringing the level of all the teachers to where we want them to be.

Recruitment & Retention: new teachers are asking for having supports in place. Society and kids are changing. Teachers need to learn.

Outreach teacher (Indigenous) is making a headway - we need to improve attendance. Siwal Si’wes budget for cultural days, embedding Indigenous world views. Targeted funds are not to cover cultural days, they are to be used for education for Indigenous students to improve student outcomes. We need to reassess.

Middle schools need playgrounds - kids need to have some activity. (*Abbotsford middle school is structured differently. Majority of our middle school students are considered "high-school age" therefore, they do not qualify for playground).

Busing.

Comment: The Director of Student Services has been adjusting Inclusion Mentor Teachers scope of work. Maybe the Assistant Superintendent can do a bit of adjusting for the curriculum Mentor Teachers as well?

The Annual Budget for the school district must be approved before June 30th each year.

Over the past few months, the school district has reviewed and summarized the budget information for the next school year. The budget bylaw will be presented for adoption based on the feedback received during the budget process. The supplemental information document will provide more detailed information on the budget and the operational plans to support the Board’s strategic objectives. Staff will continue to work on this document and provide additional updates as necessary.