WEYBURN - The hard copy comes in booklet form, about 80 pages worth of information, but when the South East Cornerstone Public School Division’s annual report arrived in a virtual copy format for the board members, director of education Keith Keating and chief financial officer Shelley Toth focused attention on just a few pages.
These highlighted pages bore interesting facts regarding graduation success rates, focuses on reading, learning responses, First Nations and Métis diversity programs, and support programs, among others that were brought to the board members’ attention by Keating.
He noted the graduation rate of Cornerstone students was above the provincial average, a continuation of the past successful examples.
Toth focused her attention mostly on the financial side of the picture and where the school division currently stands on the revenue and expenses columns, including major expense items.
On the revenue side, Toth pointed out that actual income amounted to just under $107 million compared with the nearly $116 million accrued in 2021. The actual revenue amount, although less than the previous year was about $4 million more than what was budgeted.
On the expenses side, the actual number for 2022 was just under $112.5 million compared with $111.8 million in 2021, indicating an operating deficit of slightly more than $5.6 million.
As expected, the bulk of the revenues now come in the form of provincial government grants and the majority of expenses are steered toward salaries of teachers, assistants, administration and support staff, as well as a small amount for board member compensation.
On the board remuneration front, the compensation levels were the highest at $31,566 and lowest at $7,390 and $10,582 (partial amounts due to trustee retirements after a few months of service in 2022), with an average of about $19,000 for the others. This governance compensation included not only basic remuneration but also travel and in-province professional development funding.
