OCDSB 'almost didn't make payroll' as it struggles with budget deficits
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The chief financial officer at Ottawa's largest school board has warned trustees that its financial situation is so dire, the board almost didn't make payroll.
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'We're overspending over $14 million on special education, and we have a lot of programs where we're overspending,' Randy Gerrior warned trustees at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board on May 27.
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Trustees have suggested cutting more from administration, and the board has been doing that, said Gerrior.
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While he didn't provide details, Gerrior's comments came as trustees debated a motion from Trustee Donna Blackburn to rescind a 2016 motion to continue the 17-day Summer Learning Program (SLP) for about 200 students with developmental delays 'until such a time as a community partner can be found' to provide the program at no cost to parents or guardians.
Such a partner has not come forward. The program costs $610,000 to run, with money coming from other programs offered during the rest of the school year, said Kate Stoudt, the superintendent who oversees special education.
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Blackburn said she didn't want to bring the motion forward, but it's not sustainable to run some programs.
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'I don't know about what conversations my colleagues have with their constituents, but it breaks my heart every time I have to tell a parent, 'I'm very sorry your child can't go to school all day, every day,' which is their right from September to June, because we simply don't have enough supports,' said Blackburn. 'If we keep running this program, those conversations will continue to happen.'
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Some trustees defended the SLP, arguing that it is a crucial support for vulnerable students.
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'If it were the will of the board, I would suggest that we could, as a group, pen a letter to the Minister of Education asserting that this is something that should be funded, just as we provide summer school funding for other students.'
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