Overspending at school board brings warning
P.E.I.'s Eastern School District far exceeded its budget for payments to trustees and professional development last year, prompting a warning from the Department of Education.
"We don't want to be moving forward and all of the sudden start have to start impeding on operational budgets and programming budgets," Education Minister Doug Currie told CBC News Wednesday.
It was the second year in a row of heavy spending on trustee honorariums. Trustees are paid by the meeting, and there were a lot more of them in 2009 when the public was being consulted on a number of school closures.
But the overspending continued last year. The board spent an extra $14,000 on trustee remuneration and $35,000 on trustee professional development in the year ending June 2010.
| Blown budgets | |||
| Item | Budget | Spending | Overrun |
| Remuneration | $36,850 | $50,789 | 38% |
| Professional Development | $25,000 | $59,207 | 137% |
In July the Department of Education sent the board a letter warning it to curb its overspending, and now the board has to file monthly budget updates...
"Any additional requests above and beyond that budget certainly have to come to us," said Currie.
Board chair Bob Clow said the extra money was spent on mediation, team-building, and meetings on rezoning.
Meetings suspended
The board of trustees is facing accusations that it is dysfunctional.
Following a meeting last week, the president of the P.E.I. Home and School Federation accused Clow of bullying other members of the board. Owen Parkhouse also questioned why Clow needed to have a lawyer at the meeting to advise him how to run the meeting.
Clow told CBC News Wednesday the board is suspending its meetings for up to a month while it tries to refocus.
"We're talking about reviewing our focus, our vision, trust and respect," he said.
"The board needs some time to reflect back."
Some trustees want the auditor general to look into the board's overspending, and they aren't pleased with the news of the break in meetings.
While regular board meetings have been suspended, seven board members still plan to travel to Halifax this weekend for a professional development conference. The trip will cost taxpayers about $7,000.