The Calgary Board of Education saw a $4.8 million annual operating deficit in the 2023-2024 fiscal year due to large enrolment numbers, which represents 0.3 per cent of the school board’s total annual expenditures.
According to the Financial Results 2023-2024 report presented at a board meeting on Tuesday, the CBE received $1.45 billion from Government of Alberta revenue last fiscal year. This is a net increase of $100.6 million compared with the 2022-2023 fiscal year, the report added.
Around 86.6 per cent of that funding, or $1,252.2 million, went toward teaching and learning. The other 13.4 per cent is allocated to instructional support, which are flow-through funds designated for transportation and maintaining learning facilities.
The CBE also received $113.3 million in non-Government of Alberta revenue, a decrease of $14.1 million compared with the 2022-2023 fiscal year. These funds come from items like fees and sales and are variable due to year-to-year decisions, economic factors and student needs. According to the report, the decrease was partly attributed to the lack of property sales in the 2023-2024 fiscal year. However, the decrease was offset by school-generated funds, the solar rebate revenue, an increase in lunch supervision fees, an increase in investment revenues, international student enrolment and daily rental permit returns.
Overall, the CBE said $1,564.3 million was used for expenses in the 2023-2024 fiscal year, an increase of $127.7 million – or 8.9 per cent – compared with the 2022-2023 fiscal year. Around $932.7 million was spent on salaries and benefits for certified staff members, while another $281.2 million was spent on salaries and benefits for non-certified staff members. Combined, it represents a $75.8 million increase compared with the 2022-2023 fiscal year.
Brad Grundy, chief superintendent of finance and technology, said the financial statements reflect a number of factors that impacted the CBE during the 2023-2024 academic year including rising enrolment numbers, growing student complexity and increasing school utilization rates. While revenue increased largely in step with enrolment growth, Grundy said the CBE’s per-student funding is lagging behind.
According to the report, the CBE received $9,076 per student in the 2023-2024 academic year which is similar to the funding it received in the 2018-2019 academic year. However, if adjusted for inflation since the 2016-2017 academic year, the CBE should be receiving $10,839 per student from Alberta Education, according to CBE. That is a difference of around $238 million.
“Throughout 2023 and 2024, the CBE was challenged to maintain the ratio of students to school-based staff and the scope of services and supports for students. Put simply, dollars don’t stretch as far as they once did,” Grundy said.
“With increased revenue, it is not surprising that we also see an overall increase in expenditures. The increased expenditures reflect the hiring of teachers, educational assistants and other school-based support staff to address the growing CBE student enrolment.”
Increase of capital assets, decrease in capital reserves
The CBE also saw a $26.6 million increase in tangible capital assets in the 2023-2024 fiscal year. Around $24.7 million was used for capital projects at various schools and $27.2 million was used for IT infrastructure and other infrastructure upgrades at various schools.
The CBE also has $45.4 million in its operating reserves as of Aug. 31, 2024, a $7.5 million increase since Aug. 31, 2023. These funds are saved to address non-grant funding risks and emergency operational needs, but the CBE said its ability to access those funds is constrained by the accumulated surplus from operations (ASO). The CBE’s ASO for the 2024-2025 school year is around $1.535 million.
Previously, LWC reported that the CBE’s ASO saw a more than $43.8 million deficit, which more than doubled the deficit reported during the 2022-2023 fiscal year.
The CBE also has $73.8 million in its capital reserves as of Aug. 31, 2024, a $5 million decrease from Aug. 31, 2023. This money is designated for future board-approved capital acquisitions, the report said. Despite the decrease, CBE administration said it is a “reasonable level” when considering aging school infrastructure, the need for additional learning spaces and school facilities that are currently under construction.
The CBE said it receives an average of $36.9 million every year in grants for infrastructure and capital renewal projects, as well as $12.3 million every year for major capital projects in existing schools. This totals to around $49.2 million per year, while the industry standard is between $67.8 million to $135.7 in investments to prevent deferred maintenance from increasing further. The report said around 56.6 per cent of CBE schools are more than 50 years old, and over 70 per cent of CBE schools will be older than 50 years old within the next 10 years.
“The conditions are safe, but certainly there are some schools that might benefit from a little additional maintenance, but we manage the maintenance of the schools to ensure that conditions always stay safe,” said Dany Breton, superintendent of facilities and environmental services.
“We have staff within those schools – educational staff and facility operators – who are in those buildings and who know the systems and can report any concerns that they are identifying.”
Breton also said there is a set of criteria to determine which schools have the greatest need, and then they are prioritized based on that need. According to new capital ranking criteria approved in October, schools are eligible for revitalization and modernization if the building is 50 years or older, and if they have a high score on the Facility Condition Index.
“If the schools had a point where the investment would be too expensive in comparison to the actual value of the building, then it might be a time to look at replacing that and that includes, of course, taking other considerations to better suit the community,” he said.
But Breton said that while the schools may be old, the infrastructure and buildings are still functional.
“Many people might have in their homes a very dependable washer dryer that is well beyond its expected life expectancy, or a hot water tank. It’s not just because of the fact that it is beyond its designed life expectancy that we necessarily need to be replacing those and so they might be old, they might not look like what you expect today, but they’re still functioning. Sometimes, though, we might get surprises, and that’s why we do have a contingency set aside to attend to those surprises,” he said.
“It’s an emergent issue contingency fund that we set aside to try to allow, then the planned maintenance to continue to happen, and then without having to cancel a project and in order to attend to the surprise that we just received.”
CBE has positive financial outlook
CBE administration said it will continue to maximize money directed towards classrooms and learning, and they will continue to engage in financial planning to manage student population growth and complexity in classrooms. However, the report said rising student enrolment and aging school infrastructure will continue to add financial pressure to the CBE over the next 10 years. The CBE also expects enrolment growth to continue at least for the next four years, despite record levels in the 2023-2024 school year.
Currently, the utilization rate across the CBE system is 95 per cent, and around 75 schools are over 100 per cent utilized. This means some students may be overflowed from an over-utilized school to a receiving school, which the CBE says will support the learning needs of students in rapidly growing communities.
According to the Three-Year School Capital Plan 2025-2028 submitted earlier in the year, 21 new school construction projects and five modernization projects were prioritized. Thirteen of those projects are site-ready, the report said. However, it takes around three to four years to build a school after provincial government approval.
The CBE also said it is committed to increasing its ASO by steadily growing the amount over the next two to three years.
“While rapid enrolment growth can be challenging, it also offers opportunities to enhance academic programming and operational efficiencies,” the report read.
“Over the years, CBE has managed enrolment growth following its planning principles and processes. In addition, several solutions are being leveraged or explored to accommodate a growing student population including new school construction, modular units, replacement schools, additions to schools, modernization projects solution projects, partnerships with external agencies, returning CBE space to the system, space optimization in existing schools, leasing space and innovation in school programming.”
