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Reading program saved... for now

Board passes budget with one per cent hike

BY Kurtis Elsner, Staff June 23, 2009 22:06

The Simcoe County District School Board approved its budget last week, including a last-minute addition to keep a popular reading program alive for at least one more year.

Trustees voted June 17 to move $650,000 from the SCDSB's reserve funds to Reading Recovery, a program board staff had recommended be scrapped for the next school year. After the introduction of a replacement program, the move would have saved the board about $1 million next year.

Orillia trustee Deb Edwards opposed moving money back into Reading Recovery. She said trustees should heed staff advice when they say it isn't an effective enough program.

"Reading Recovery is not adequately reaching all students. We can do this in a better way and equitably reach all students," she said.

SCDSB staff had said at previous budget meetings that Reading Recovery, a one-on-one reading program for struggling readers in Grade 1, was not reaching enough students. They said too much money was being spent on it for the results that were coming back and that a new model using group teaching would save money while reaching more students.

The original board proposal eliminated the program entirely next year and advocated the switch to the new model. Many trustees were advocating for a slower transition from Reading Recovery to the new program.

The $650,000 addition to the budget will allow for a more gradual move away from Reading Recovery and also allow for the program to ramp up more easily again in the following year should trustees want to re-implement the program.

A few trustees expressed concern with pulling money out of reserve funds.

Trustee Nancy Halbert said she would rather see the money spent than sitting dormant, though.

"Money sitting in a bank account doesn't do students any good," she said.

An additional $240,000 was moved out of reserves to delay the elimination of all of the board's computer software technician jobs. The board had proposed assigning that task to specially-trained teachers, but trustees opted to keep a few CSTs on staff to provide a longer transition time.

Board staff said that for the past few years the board has suffered declining enrolment, which has cut the amount of per-pupil funding the board gets from the Ontario government.

The total operating budget for 2009/2010 is $473,531,600, about $4.8 million - or 1 per cent - more than last year's budget. The capital budget, which is largely set through Ministry of Education funding allocation, was also approved at $17,918,200, about $2 million more than last year.

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