(Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

cuts

St. Gabriel Online School to close as Red Deer Catholic board passes 2020-21 budget

May 28, 2020 | 2:53 PM

The board of trustees for Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools has approved the district’s 2020-21 budget that accounts for millions in lost funding over the last year.

Chief among budget cuts is the closure of St. Gabriel Online School, which must be given final approval by board vote on June 23.

The division is also removing embedded professional development Mondays, and will instead hold five extra PD days throughout the school year.

The Discovery Learning Centre at Red Deer’s River Bend Recreation Area, which was used for outdoor learning with Pre-K and Kindergarten classes, will close.

Full-day/every day Kindergarten at three schools will be eliminated and some staff allocations are being altered, such as reducing the number of full-time faith coach positions.

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As well, 43 FTE teaching positions will be lost, along with 32 educational assistants.

“This was not an easy budget, but I am proud that the board of trustees has chosen to fund priorities, such as Pre-Kindergarten and our successful mental health program,” says Board Chair Anne Marie Watson.

“We were faced with a funding cut in October 2019 and since we were in the midst of the school year, we chose to use reserves to maintain our programming. But that essentially delayed the difficult decisions we have now had to make with this 2020/2021 budget.”

The division says the unexpected shortfall last October amounted to $2.75 million after the provincial government eliminated the Classroom Improvement Fund, and the Class Size Initiative and School Fees grants.

Red Deer Catholic addressed the initial blow by pulling $2 million from reserves, reducing $350,000 in direct services from school budgets, and dropping $100,000 from the transportation budget.

The Inclusive Learning Department also reduced services and purchases by $150,000, and the division cut spending for software and materials by $150,000.

An additional $1.3 million was lost due to COVID-19 and the decision made by the provincial government in March to cut $128 million from school budgets province-wide to further fund pandemic response.

The division says it has just $2.5 million left in its reserves.

“On February 18, Alberta Education announced a new funding model for 2020-2021. Alberta Education mandated that School Boards deliver a balanced budget for the upcoming school year and restricted access to operating reserves,” a release explains. “The provincial budget also mandated that school boards must seek the approval of the Minister of Education in order to use their reserves.”

A new formula, the release continues, will be implemented to fund school divisions which will be based on the weighted moving average of the student population from the previous three years.

Divisions are now prohibited from moving funds in and out of operations and maintenance to support other areas of need, as had been the case in the past.

The division concludes that it strived to maintain a balanced budget, the main goal being to have the least impact on the classroom and continue to give students a quality faith-based education.

Further, on the subject of St. Gabriel Online School, the division says on its website that the move is made necessary because of the way Alberta Education has changed how it is funding schools, calling the online model “no longer viable.”

The lease for the school’s 47 Avenue location expires June 30. Operations will be moved to St. Benedict the Moor Centre (between St. Thomas Aquinas Middle School and Maryview School). St. John Paul II Outreach School, which is next door to St. Gabriel, will also relocate to St. Benedict.

For those who don’t wish to join what the division is calling a blended learning environment, it says online courses will be offered through two Red Deer high schools, as well as at St. Dominic Catholic High School in Rocky Mountain House.

Elite athletes who utilize St. Gabriel will be able to continue their learning in the same manner. The Red Deer Rebels currently employs the school for educating its players.

Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools is hosting a virtual town hall meeting tonight (May 28) at 6:30 to discuss the future of St. Gabriel. Those who wish to attend are to email juanita.heidt@rdcrs.ca.

Lastly, the division says it continues to wait for a meeting with Alberta Infrastructure on the method of delivery for its new middle school in north Red Deer.

On May 20, the Alberta government announced school divisions will receive capital maintenance and renewal funding, in addition to regular infrastructure maintenance and renewal dollars. Red Deer Catholic will get $2.5 million to use for projects such as installing LED light fixtures, replacing system controls, replacing the bleachers at Notre Dame, and repurposing classrooms at St. Gregory the Great Catholic School in Blackfalds.