The District School Board of Niagara’s Board of Trustees approved the 2023/2024 budget of $584,913,491 at the June 20th Regular Meeting of the Board. This is $38 million higher than the 2022/2023 budget, with the additional funding largely allocated in the Grants for Student Needs (GSN), due to a continued and steady increase in enrolment across the DSBN.
Enrolment for the upcoming school year is expected to rise by 3.58%, or nearly 1,400 elementary and secondary students, bringing DSBN’s total enrolment up to 41,700 students. With many more students projected to join our schools once again, DSBN’s budget includes hiring 109 additional full-time staff to best support students. However, as a result of retirements, DSBN will be hiring over 200 staff members for the 2023/2024 year.
By continuing to ensure financial responsibility with healthy accumulated surplus, DSBN has been able to consistently invest in current and future needs, and is well prepared to respond to any priorities that may arise throughout the new school year.
DSBN’s 2023/2024 Budget Highlights:
- Ensuring excellent student support by hiring 109 additional full-time staff, including over 60 classroom teachers and early childhood educators
- Investing $1.5 million in hiring additional full-time learning resource teachers and multi-language resource coaches
- Providing direct support to students by investing $200,000 towards DSBN’s Student Equity Conference and enhanced equity, inclusion and anti-racism professional development for staff
- Allocating $500,000 to expand DSBN’s culinary program under the skilled trades
- Investing over $75 million in new school builds, modern additions, renovations and improvements. This includes beginning the new elementary school build in Niagara Falls, the new joint elementary school build in Wainfleet, and building three new sets of synthetic fields and tracks at Eden High School, Laura Secord Secondary School and Eastdale Secondary School
“The best interests of our students and community are what set the foundation for this budget. Their interests are always what matter most. We are proud of the work that’s been done to produce a budget that enhances what we offer students and staff, and that’s built to benefit families and community members as well. Niagara is growing, and we remain committed to making decisions that are good for everyone,” said Sue Barnett, Chair of the Finance Committee and Chair of the Board.
“Maintaining a balanced budget is one of the many ways that we continue to deliver on our most important goal – doing what’s best for students. We are investing in students by hiring 109 full-time staff, improving our facilities for students and school communities to benefit from, and continuing to invest in a breadth of programming to support our students’ learning, growth, and their overall development and success,” said Warren Hoshizaki, Director of Education. “With this budget, we are once again in an excellent position to directly support students and give them the learning experience they deserve.”
DSBN’s fiscal year runs from September 1 to August 31. Annually in June, the budget for the upcoming school year is presented to DSBN’s Board of Trustees for review and approval.