N.S. school boards carrying surplus

The provincial government released figures Wednesday showing Nova Scotia school boards are carrying accumulated surpluses totalling $45 million.

The data was released following a series of public meetings maligning a government request to school boards to go through a cost-savings exercise of cutting 22 per cent from their budgets over three years.

Chignecto-Central Regional School Board officials have been among the most vocal, estimating the move would result in the loss of hundreds of positions.

With provincial MLAs bearing the brunt of parental concerns, Education Minister Ramona Jennex released a list Wednesday showing accumulated surpluses being carried by every board in the province.

"It goes to show that the budgets that certain school boards are getting is more than adequate. They've been able to work within their budget and have money left over, so we can see that there is potential savings around the budget process," said Jennex.

It's illegal for school boards to carry a deficit, so most the funds have built up over time. Boards must receive permission from the Department of Education to spend any of the surplus.

Jennex will be meeting with all school board chairs on Feb. 3 in Halifax to discuss the education budgeting process going forward what she refers to as a "rebalancing."

School boards not awash in money: Carvery

Halifax Regional School Board chair Irvine Carvery said it was unfortunate that through the release of the surplus numbers, the department chose to put out a message that school boards are awash in funds.

"For this to be coming out now, making those type of accusations is totally unfortunate. We are not awash in money," said Carvery.

Breaking down the $12.6-million surplus reported by the Halifax board, Carvery said $5 million represented student fundraising for trips and other projects that was being held in the surplus account. Carvery said $3 million represented funds for capital amoritization expenses carried over a number of years. He said the actual amount of the board's surplus was $4.2 million, accumulated over 10 years.

"We have some major expenditures between January and March, March being the end of the fiscal year. That's the period of time in which we have to account for snow removal, increased heating costs, and extra costs for substitute teachers because that's the flu season. So each year when we do our budgeting we plan for contingencies in case these events happen. In those years in which that doesn't happen, we have a surplus at the end of the year," Carvery explained.

"When White Juan hit we did not have enough. That cost us $10,000 a centimetre above our contract, so we have to plan for difficult times and it's a sign of reasonable budgeting if you can come out with a surplus, remembering we cannot budget for a deficit," added Carvery.

In a news release, Progressive Conservative education critic Chris dEntremont called the release of the numbers a smear.

"This is clearly an underhanded attempt by the government to detract from the greater issue at hand here the NDP plans to cut 22 per cent from the budgets of school boards this year," said dEntremont.

"The sooner this NDP government and education minister stop the smear campaign and get to the table for a factual discussion, the better off the education system will be," said dEntremont. "When the facts are not on the table, and rumours are circulating, the only people that lose are our children."

Accumulated surplus forNova Scotiaschool boards from March 31, 2007 to March 31, 2010: