FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 23, 2002

Trustees approve school board’s recommendations for improvement
At the first Board meeting for the 2002/03 school year, trustees of the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board approved the Board’s submission to the Education Equality Task Force (EETF) on improvements to the student-focused funding model.

The submission provides background information, describes issues facing students and schools, and makes recommendations in the following categories:

• School renewal/school maintenance
• School bus transportation
• Collective bargaining
• Local flexibility/local priorities
• Funding model benchmarks

Chair of the Board, Judy Edgar, remarks, “Our Board is not unlike others in the province which are all struggling to make ends meet. Unless the funding formula is fixed, we will have serious difficulties preparing a balanced budget next year. Our submission is realistic and constructive, and we are hopeful that it will assist the task force with their final report to the government.”

The review of the funding model provides the Ontario government with an opportunity to review current costs of doing business, and to prepare and plan for the systematic changes that will result from a projected province-wide decline in elementary and secondary enrolments.

Headed by Dr. Mordechai Rozanski, the mandate of the EETF is to make recommendations to the provincial government on ways to build upon the student-focused funding model and improve fairness, stability and certainty for students and schools. Recommendations are to be delivered in a report in November 2002 for consideration by the government for the 2003/04 school year.

Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board has 54 schools serving over 18,900 students, and employing 1,083 teachers. The district covers a wide geographical area of 7,221 square kilometres bordered by Bancroft to the north, Deseronto to the east, Prince Edward County to the south, and Quinte West to the west. The 2002-2003 operating budget is $133.9 million.

For information contact :
Judy Edgar, Chair of the Board, (613) 332-1480
David Rutherford, Superintendent of Finance & Treasurer, 966-1170 x2280
Kerry Donnell, Communications Officer, 966-1170 x2354