Quick Notes from the Board Meeting
Notice of motion – police, school resource officers, and school safety
Trustee Marsha Nelson served noticed of motion at our April 16 board meeting that:
Given the completion of the review and input received, the Board is open to Edmonton Police Service having a formal role in Division schools to enhance student and staff safety.
That the Board amend CHA.BP Board Delegation of Authority by deleting section 2(c) which currently has the Board retaining authority over decisions, contracts or agreements with or related to policing, security or paramilitary organizations, thereby resulting in this authority reverting back to the Superintendent.
These two motions will be debated at a special board meeting, taking place on April 30 at 9:30 am. While the Board of Trustees has had robust engagement on this issue already, it is your right to request to speak at our Board meeting if you choose. If you are interested in speaking, please contact the Board office at the link above or by calling 780-429-8443.
Distribution of Funds
At the April 16 Board meeting, Trustees discussed the Distribution of Funds. This is one step in our annual budgeting process and is completed once we receive our funding manual for the upcoming year from the provincial government. Once the Board approves the distribution, school principals and central departments are provided their allocation. Schools use the pre-enrolment figures to plan for instruction next year (such as staffing) and determine their school budgets. All that information from central departments and schools is then rolled up into a proposed budget for the Board of Trustees to consider. This will be debated at our May 24 Special Board Meeting.
Key highlights:
- Funding doesn’t cover inflation or growth: we received a 4.4% increase in funding to our Division. That helps fund our projected enrolment, but there were no grant funding rate increases and no inflationary relief was provided in this budget.
- We’ll have 4002 unfunded students: the weighted moving average formula that the province uses to calculate school division funding continues to negatively impact growing school divisions like ours. If you think about our number of unfunded students in terms of schools, it’s like running four large K-9 schools without any funding at all.
While I’ll have more to say after the budget is approved, you can view the debate at board and my summary comments here (5:45:26). The Board of Trustees remains committed to opening dialogue with the province and advocating for a more equitable funding formula that doesn’t disadvantage growing school divisions and that truly funds each student we welcome into our doors at EPSB.
THANK YOU FAMILIES!
Incredible thanks and gratitude to families of Edmonton Public Schools! The Board of Trustees is so pleased you could join us last night at the Telus World of Science for some family fun at the Arctic Journey gallery, feature Dinosaur exhibit, and the Zeidler Dome for a viewing of the Legends of the Northern Sky. Thank you also for sharing your vision for public education with us. It was wonderful to see you!
Thanks also to Division staff volunteers who supported the event and to the Telus World of Science for helping make this event possible.
EPSB is a great community and we’re so proud to be part of it with you.
OTHER GOOD TO KNOW INFO
Survey on Cell Phone Use in Schools – Government of Alberta
Edmonton Public Schools approaches cell phone use in schools as an operational issue and one that is best guided by site-based decision making. The Government of Alberta is currently conducting a survey on cell phone use in schools. If you would like to do that survey, you may do it here.
Nominate a student for the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Student Award
The Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Student Award recognizes Alberta students in different grade levels who have shown tremendous growth in developing skills to better themselves by demonstrating determination, initiative and independence, which has led to their improved success both academically and personally. The deadline has been extended to April 23. Find the nomination package here.
CONGRATULATIONS
A mighty congratulations to Michelle Beaver, student at M.E. LaZerte School for being selected for the Alberta School Boards Association Honouring the Spirit Award. Michelle is doing great things and I wish her all the best in her future endeavours. It was a pleasure celebrate with you!
Mark your Calendar
 | April 23 – Lieutenant Governor Award nomination deadline April 30 – Special Board meeting – police in schools May 2 – Ward F Conversation May 14 – Regular Board meeting |
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