Tuesday, June 9, 2008, Ottawa, ON – Trustees of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board tonight approved a final operating budget of $706.35 million dollars for the 2009-2010 school year.

The budget includes the use of $7.0 million of working fund reserves to offset the impact of changes in education grants and a one-year special education funding shortfall of $2.0 million.

Lynn Scott, Chair of the Board said “Trustees of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board are pleased to have passed a balanced budget. We all understand the economic challenges being experienced across Ontario, and we are fortunate to be able to draw on working fund reserves to offset recent realignments in provincial grant funding. The use of reserves will allow us to continue work on our strategic priorities over the next year and will give us time to consider changes to programs and services to match available resources in future years.” The Board is already planning for 2010-2011 budget year and will begin consultation on that budget in the fall.

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board budget for 2009-2010 will support continued work in such areas as safe schools, elementary student supervision, diversity (including First Nations policy development), programming for English Language Learners, and special education.

In 2009-2010, more schools will offer Middle and Early French Immersion programs and the district will celebrate the opening of two new schools: Longfields-Davidson Heights Secondary School serving grades 7 to 12 in the Barrhaven area, and South March Public School in north Kanata.

The approved budget is fully integrated with the District’s four-year strategic plan and reflects the priorities in that plan developed by the Board, staff and community. Under this plan, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board has improved student achievement results, restructured programs and services to better meet the learning needs of our students.

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board provides quality education to nearly 65,000 full and part-time students from junior kindergarten to grade 12, including adult learners enrolled at our Adult High School and Continuing Education programs. We currently operate 117 elementary and 25 secondary schools, as well as a number of specialized education centres and programs.

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For further information please contact: Sharlene Hunter, Communications Officer at 613-596-8264