Trustees for the St. Clair Catholic District School Board approved a $120,204,375 budget for 2020-2021 at their August 25, 2020 Regular Board Meeting.
As part of the budget presentation, additional information was provided to Trustees, which identifies priority spending related to COVID-19 that will be included in the revised estimates later this year. To date, the Board has identified the need to utilize $3.6 million, using a combination of Board contingency funds, reserves and Ministry of Education COVID-19 funding.
“I want to thank Associate Director Amy Janssens and her team for outstanding work in a budget year like no other,” says John Van Heck, Chair of the Board. “This budget puts the health and safety of our students and staff first.”
Additional COVID-19 spending to be included in the budget covers such areas as:
- Masks and other Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
- Enhanced cleaning – additional supplies and custodial staff
- Staff to support Voluntary Learn at Home Learning
- Staff to support student supervision
- Additional teaching staff
- Mental Health supports
- Technology
- Health and Safety training
“Our planning and the additional health and safety measures we have in place have been informed by guidance from the Ministry of Education, Public Health Ontario and the Chatham-Kent and Lambton Medical Officers of Health,” says Deb Crawford, Director of Education. “This budget demonstrates that we are committed to using our taxpayer dollars and our Board reserves to fund costs and strategies which address health and safety in our schools and offices to the greatest extent possible.”
The approved budget will now be forwarded to the Ministry of Education.