Enrolment in the Upper Grand District School Board (UGDSB) is short by 132 students compared to projections made in the fall.
The decline, cited in a financial report delivered at the board’s Dec. 16 meeting, will result in a $1.32-million provincial funding shortfall, UGDSB communications officer Maggie McFadzen told the Advertiser.
“We budgeted on 33,173 [students] and we got 33,041 as of Oct. 31,” she said.
“We’ve revised our estimates to the new number, which means that we will get less money … we get about $10,000 for every average daily enrolment.”
Enrolment projections are calculated by school principals and staff is appointed accordingly. McFadzen says the board is still investigating why numbers were off this year.
“Some of our principals were bang on, some of them were not and we’re investigating what happened,” she said.
“We’re still looking at the enrolment projections and trying to figure out why they were inaccurate. We were down 0.3 per cent in elementary and 0.5% in secondary, making for an average 0.4% loss so we have to go back and dig up the calculations.”
She says one contributing factor could have been delayed housing construction in the Shelburne area.
“The houses weren’t completed so the families couldn’t move in – we are getting those kids now, but we didn’t have them Oct. 31,” she said.
Other factors such as secondary students switching to a part-time course load or returning for a “victory lap” after grade 12 can affect enrolment, along with competition with alternate school boards.
“We have had a Muslim school open in Guelph and there are private school options as well,” McFadzen explained.
McFadzen says the provincial funding loss should not have any serious effects on the budget or staffing in the coming year.
“It doesn’t involve any job losses. There are probably courses that won’t be offered in secondary schools and class sizes may get a little bigger as we work to get these numbers back up again,” she says.
“We’ve taken a few measures to take out staff that were in there on a temporary basis only, but no full-time contract teachers have lost their jobs.”
In general, enrolment in the UGDSB has been on a downward trend, says McFadzen, and the board is prepared to deal with such scenarios.
“We’re just belt tightening and watching very, very closely,” she said. “We have concerns over money all the time, but we keep an eye on it and have contingencies built into our budget.”
