When the Rainy River District School Board meets Tuesday night, one of the main topics to be discussed is new money coming in from the recommendations made in the Education Equity Task Force report released last month.
The local board will receive $180,000 for special needs education for the current school year. According to the board, five educational assistants were added to meet the needs of students shortly after the new funds were announced.
Also for the current year, the board will receive $600,000 to put towards collective bargaining support for the current contract negotiations with teachers and support staff.
This represents a 2.7 percent wage increase.
Finally, the board also will receive $41,000 to help cover transportation costs.
The provincial government announced last month that $250 million would be directed throughout the province for special education, $340 million would go to school boards for current collective bargaining negotiations, and $20 million would be allocated to help address transportation cost pressures.
The board also will discuss several other recommendations made in the task force report, including updates to the benchmarks for the funding formula, educational needs of aboriginal students, new money for school renewal projects and deferred maintenance amortization funds, and future transportation grants.
Also Tuesday night, trustees will review the local Grade 9 math assessment results as well as the results of the EQAO assessments for Grade 3 and Grade 6 students.
As well, they will discuss a letter sent to the Town of Fort Frances regarding the demolition of the old Fort Frances High School on First Street East and get an update on the schedule for expansion work on J.W. Walker School.
The board also will present its monthly Recognition of Excellence to students and teachers for the continued use of computer technology in the classroom.
Fort Frances Times
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