CBE trustee critical as lean budget passes

A Calgary public school trustee says she has been getting less and less information over the years on what's actually in the boards budget.

The Calgary Board of Education passed its more than $1-billion budget for 2013-14 on Wednesday.

It addresses recent provincial funding cutswhich left a $62-million shortfallby trimming administration and some school staff and programs.

But that information was contained in just12 lines of the budget documentation, said Carol Bazinet, trustee for Wards 12 and 14.

Trustees were not told about an 11 per cent cut to high schools that will result in dozens fewer teachers, she added.

"We had had a budget assumptions report on a Tuesday and I read about it in the paper on the Friday," she said.

"I really felt that if we were going to, as a system, change that much in our high schoolsthat's a big change for our system. That is should have been included in our budget assumptions report."

Other trustees suggested the budget could be more transparent and broken down by departments, so that the public can see and understand it.