CALGARY – The Calgary Board of Education has some extra cash following their fiscal year-end Aug. 1, which may help improve transportation, staffing levels and access to technology in the future.

CBE said an $11-million surplus was added to reserves.

It attributed the savings to cutbacks in spending and capitalizing on investment returns earned during the past few years. The board of trustees will receive the audited financial statement on Dec. 1.

“We continue to receive clean audits and this year is no exception,” trustee Lynn Ferguson, chair of the audit committee, said. “The audit shows that our financial results are fully compliant with legislation, regulation and Canadian accounting standards.”

It’s not good enough, however, for the the Calgary Association of Parents and School Councils (CAPSC). It’s asking for an independent review of the “use of funds” by the CBE.

“Parents continue to be concerned about the amount of funds that actually reach the front lines in support of our teachers and students,” said CAPSC President, Lisa Davis. “With $260 million not reaching the schools, and parents still buying basic materials such as reading books, clearly this is an issue.”

As for the surplus money, the CBE said it is making several one-time investments, including nearly $5 million this fall to address parent concerns related to travel distances to bus stops.

The congregated bus stop system, put in place for the 2015-16 school year, reduced the number of yellow school bus stops on each route. Some students were initially walking as far as seven kilmetres to their bus stops because of the changes – which the CBE said was the result of a funding gap. The CBE later recommitted to its maximum travel distances of 1.8 kilometres for junior high school students and 1.6 kilometres for elementary students.

CAPSC pointed out that the $5-million commitment to transportation is over three times the cost the CBE would have incurred had it maintained service levels this year.

Other one-time investments by CBE include:

Boosting staff in schools-

• $14.5 million to add staff to advance school development plans and improve student success;

• $1.5 million to provide graduation coaches for high schools to support the unique learning needs of first nations, Metis and Inuit students.

Outfitting new schools-

• $25 million over two years to equip 31 major capital projects, including 21 new schools.

Enhancing technology-

• $14 million over two years to enhance wireless capacity in all 227 schools to meet increased demand;

• $36 million to upgrade school and system technology, including implementation of a new student information system.

The board will see a detailed budget report for the 2015-2016 term Tuesday. Trustees approved its $1.3-billion 2015-2016 budget and submitted it to Alberta Education in June. The board said trustees were happy with the government for increasing funding to meet enrollment growth and providing stability for the year.

© Shaw Media, 2015