Catholic board in the black

The Northwest Catholic District School Board ended the 2005/06 school year in a balanced position, according to audited financial statements presented to trustees at its regular monthly meeting here last night.
“In order to balance revenues with expenditures, a transfer of $34,100 was made from classroom deferred revenue,” Superintendent of Business Chris Howarth wrote in his report.
Meanwhile, a transfer of $79,099 was made to pupil accommodation deferred revenue as a result of underspending in that area.
Howarth noted that underspending was deliberate in anticipation of higher expenditures in 2006/07 as a result of the Best Start Day Care project at St. Joseph’s School in Dryden.
In its management letter to the board, BDO Dunwoody identified school fundraising activities as one area where “adequate documentation controls were not in place throughout the year to allow us to obtain satisfactory audit verification.”
This observation is common among many school boards in Ontario, noted Don Yurkiw of BDO Dunwoody, who attended last night’s meeting.
He suggested some ways the board could better control and keep track of money raised through school fundraising activities.
“It’s a balancing act,” Howarth noted, between keeping tabs on the money but not making it tedious for the volunteers who do the fundraising.
“We’ve got some new procedures going out to the schools,” he added.
The board’s five schools raised $435,864 in 2005/06, with all but about $11,000 of that was spent on school-based activities.
The remainder went into a school activity fund.
The board approved the audited financial statements as presented.
In other news, the local Catholic board has had no First Nations representative at its last two meetings because the First Nations’ communities that have tuition agreements with the board have been unable to agree on a candidate.
“There has to be a collaboration,” explained Education Director Mary-Catherine Kelly.
The board sent correspondence to the First Nations in the fall, asking that they choose a representative before the inaugural meeting in December.
Couchiching First Nation offered to support Ralph Bruyere, who was serving as the First Nation trustee in the last term, but noted he only would be representing Couchiching.
Kelly said provincial legislation calls for a consensus among the local First Nations, and that only one representative could sit on the board due to the small population of the area.
She added she would be calling the chiefs this week to ask them to come to a consensus as soon as possible.
Kelly noted the board has a Native Advisory Committee, where representatives from area First Nations also have an opportunity to voice their concerns.
Also last night, trustees heard that five Special Education programs currently are underway in the board’s schools.
The objectives of those programs are to reduce wait times for students requiring professional assessments, to improve literacy and/or numeracy for those students, to enhance teacher capacity to provide effective programming for students, and to sustain the assessment process improvements for the long-term.
The next regular meeting of the Catholic board is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 20.