TRURO – Senior Treasury Board advisor Doug Stewart will provide his budget review and recommendations to the Chignecto-Central Regional School Board on Wednesday.
Stewart and Rosalind Penfound, Deputy Minister of Education, will hold a media briefing at 10:30 a.m. in Room 136 at the Nova Scotia Community College Truro Campus, 36 Arthur St.
Stewart was appointed to review the budget by Education Minister Ramona Jennex on April 12.
The move came after the government ordered the CCRSB to put a halt to any budget cuts.
The board, which had already indicated plans to eliminate adult high school and cut its librarians and library technicians, was going to set staffing levels earlier this month, but held off after being told to by the minister.
The board is dealing with a 1.3 per cent funding cut that when combined with inflation, rising energy and transportation costs and negotiated wage settlements, pushed its funding shortfall to $6.5 million.
Since 2008-09, the province increased per-student funding in Chignecto-Central Regional School Board by 12 per cent, to its highest point ever this year. Over the same time period, enrolment dropped by 7.5 per cent, or more than 1,700 students.
In 2012-13, the school board will receive $177 million, including $3.8 million for libraries, to educate its students.
