The Greater Essex County District School Board is sitting on an unexpected budget surplus of $1-million.
Superintendent of Business Cathy Lynd says the money comes as a welcome surprise. "We were anticipating a deficit of about $1.5-million, so we're very happy. It adds to our accumulated surplus that we have available going forward that we can use when we need to make some decisions, without making drastic changes immediately and allows us some time."
The board says a number of factors played into the surplus, including spending cuts and a reduction in professional development costs.
"The board also saw an unexpected enrolment of 157 students, many of which were incoming refugees" says Director of Education Erin Kelly. "Obviously that helps. When you have more enrolment then you're getting greater funding. So that was helpful to us, but obviously we have to serve those students and that comes with extra costs too, but we've been able to be able to serve them and to do so well."
With the new numbers, the public board is re-drafting its budget for the current school with the anticipated $3.5-million deficit expected to shrink.