The Hastings Prince Edward District School Board of Trustees held their annual meeting on Monday night.
Trustee Lucille Kyle was reelected as Board Chair, while Trustee Jennifer Cobb was elected Vice-Chair. Trustees were reelected or elected to various committees during the meeting.
Later during the meeting, Superintendent of Business Services Nick Pfeiffer presented a report showing some revised estimates for the HPEDSB that have the school board finishing the year with an accumulated $6.9 million surplus.
He said the slight surplus which was projected for this year has disappeared because of the pandemic and HPEDSB is now looking at a 1.8% deficit, or $3.4 million, due to COVID-19 responses in school.
Pfeiffer says they are within Ministry guidelines and compliance.
Pfeiffer says because of COVID-19, the Ministry of Education has increased the threshold for an in-year deficit from 1% to 2% and in HPEDSB’s case, this works out to be $3.7 million.
In his report he states there has been a substantial decline in overall enrolment, particularly at the elementary level as well as a substantial enrolment decline at the secondary level from international students. Pfeiffer said 15% of elementary students and 18% of secondary school students are enrolled in the virtual school, which makes it the largest school in the school board with approximately 2,500 students.
The report also says an additional 77 staff, additional PPE and cleaning supplies, increased transportation costs and increased school operational costs have added to higher than expected expenses.
Pfeiffer says revenues have declined by $2.2 million and expenses have increased by $6.3 million.
The Ministry of Education has provided the school board with an additional $4 million to offset COVID-19 expenses, but Pfeiffer says this is not sufficient to cover all of the COVID-19 related costs.
He said HPEDSB is not alone and boards across the province are in the same situation.
Director of Education Sean Monteith said the virtual school is not sustainable and they are going to have some difficult conversations in the new year to address some of those concerns when it comes to budgeting.
The Board of Trustees revised estimates passed.
