GECDSB, WECDSB announce budget approvals for 2023-24 school year

By RTT Staff

The Greater Essex County District School Board (GECDSB) and the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board (WECDSB) have both approved their budgets for the 2023-24 school year

The board of trustees of the GECDSB has approved a budget of $589,748,938 for the upcoming school year, it was announced last Friday.

According to the public board, this includes an operating budget of $509,381,053 and a capital budget of $80,367,885. The operating budget reflects a deficit of $4,464,344 which will be resolved with the board’s accumulated surplus.

Among the budget highlights identified by the GECDSB include new investments in Special Education including the addition of six GAINS (Giving Attention to Individual Needs) classrooms, four STEPS (Skills to Enhance Personal Success) classrooms and increases to the Special Education staffing complement of 70.5 positions; continuing investments to support student success and well-being, equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives and the GECDSB Anti-Black Racism strategy. This includes Create Your Future Counsellors, graduation coaches, human rights and system equity advisor, well-being teacher consultant and SLGBTQ+ social worker; continued commitment to ensuring healthy school environments; alignment of staffing resources to meet the needs of students; development and phased implements of the GECDSB Climate Action Plan, focusing on the use of resources in environmentally sustainable manners; and designing new school construction and capital projects with energy efficiency as a priority.

WECDSB board trustees approved a $295.8-million budget plan last Tuesday evening for the 2023-24 school year that the Catholic board states includes increased expenditures for student services as well as additional spending for more staff to accommodate projected increases in enrollment.

With projected revenues of $293.3-million, the board states it is expected to incur a deficit of $2.56-million, however the budget plan remains compliant with Ministry of Education regulations.

“This is an excellent plan for the upcoming school year, and it’s based largely on feedback we received from stakeholders through our public consultation process,” said WECDSB board chair Fulvio Valentinis.

“We heard loud and clear from our constituents that they want increased spending on mental health supports, literacy and math, and special education supports, and this budget delivers on those concerns.”

The proposed budget is based on a projected day school enrolment for 2023-24 of 21,125 students, a 3.7 per cent increase compared to the 2022-23 budget estimates. The Catholic board says with approximately two-thirds of education funding based on enrolment, the 2023-24 increase in enrolment equates to approximately $7.3-million in additional grant revenue for the board. The rest of the budget expenses not funded through grants or other sources of revenue will be