The Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board continues to add to its accumulated surplus.
The final figures are in for the 2018-19 school year and the board recorded a surplus of $3.07-million.
Chair Fulvio Valentinis says the board had projected a $1.75-million deficit, but enrollment numbers were up with an additional 403 students
Valentinis calls the extra students a pleasant surprise.
"You never know because when we prepare our budgets, we're always not sure about the student enrollment. We like to be conservative because we don't want any major, major surprises. We want to make sure we're in a position to deal with it and to address the needs, the financial needs and requirements," he says.
Valentinis says the board's financial position was very different just a few years ago.
"There's a lot more questioning now of the finances. There's much more monitoring by the trustees in terms of wanting to be informed and wanting to make sure that we're on track throughout. That's why we get the variance reports and we look at them very carefully. We don't want any major surprises," he says.
Valentinis says, with the extra funds, the board's accumulated surplus now sits at $17.05-million.
"People think that that's money that you have to spend automatically, but there's all kinds of things. For example, if you blow a boiler at one of your major schools or something that could be $1.5-million that you didn't account for. You don't want to be scrambling. You want to be fiscally responsible," he adds.
With the increased number of pupils, there are now 20,550 students enrolled at the Catholic school board.