Amanda Stephenson
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The board of the Prairie Rose School Division has asked the two administrators who sacrificed part of their salaries earlier this year to return to full-time duties effective Dec. 1.
Superintendent Doug Nicholls and deputy superintendent Brian Andjelic both voluntarily reduced their positions and salaries by 25 per cent each at the start of this school year. At the time, the Prairie Rose School Division was facing a $2.75 million funding shortfall as a result of provincial cuts to education. Nicholls and Andjelic's decision represented $75,000 in annual savings for the cash-strapped board.
However, board vice-chair Stuart Angle told the News on Wednesday that there are too many big issues facing Prairie Rose right now to continue without the full-time services of senior administration.
"We figured it wasn't fair to the jurisdiction, because there's too much they're having to attend to, and it certainly wasn't fair to them, because they were still trying to do as much of the work as possible," Angle said.
Among the major issues on the table, Angle said, are a new Education Act in the works and Prairie Rose's efforts at lobbying the provincial government for equitable funding for rural school divisions.
Angle said the decision to reduce the administrators' salaries always came with the condition that it could be quickly reversed if necessary. He said the board has savings set aside for just that purpose, and that none of the extra funds recently returned to the school board by the provincial government will go toward senior administration salaries.
Angle said Nicholls' and Andjelic's sacrifice was a surprising one that was greatly appreciated at the time. He said that while their move may have drawn attention to Prairie Rose's budget woes this spring, it was not done for that reason.
"I don't think it was for political positioning, I think it was just trying to help the division and kids as a whole," Angle said.
While the Prairie Rose School Division did receive a one-time injection of $710,000 from the province this spring, in addition to receiving approximately $762,000 this fall when the Redford government partially restored some of the education cuts, it is still forecasting a $539,000 deficit for the year ahead. However, recently released audited financial statements from 2010-11 show the division did far better financially than it had expected to last year. The board had budgeted for a $495,000 deficit last year, and ended up with a small surplus of approximately $33,000.
Secretary-treasurer Pat Cocks said the discrepancy is due to a variety of factors, such as lower than expected utility costs and fewer expenditures by individual schools.