School board ends year with $8.7M surplus
November 25, 2009
Noor Javed
STAFF REPORTER
Despite crying deficit all last year, the Toronto District School Board ended the 2009 school year with a sizable surplus of $8.7 million – one of the biggest the board has seen in a decade.
"At the end of the day, we came out of it with our head out of the water," said trustee Bruce Davis, the board's finance committee chair.
The surplus was the result of spending restraints, lower than expected sick-leave payouts, smaller bills for natural gas and an overall boost in enrolment.
"Most of our funding is through a provincial funding formula, so if you have more students you have more funds," said Davis.
"I think $4 million of the surplus was attributable to that enrolment."
The TDSB has an annual budget of $2.5 billion. Schools raised $44 million through student fees and parent fundraising in the past year.
Don Higgins, the board's executive officer of business services, said a surplus of about $3 million was forecast in the budget last year.
Concerns of a growing deficit forced the closure of pools and the loss of 36 teacher-librarian and 150 educational assistant jobs last year.
About $3.5 million of the money was used to balance the 2009-10 school year budget, said Higgins, leaving a balance of $5.7 million, "which we recommend stay in the working fund reserve to ease our challenges in 2010-11."
The board has an outstanding capital loan of $62 million, but can only fund that by selling off property.
Toronto Star