The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The Board of Education of the Creighton School Division has finalized its 2004 Balanced Budget. For the seventh year in a row, the Board is pleased to announce that the mill rate will remain at 18.5. Expenditures in 2004 will increase by some $268,000 over the level of expenditures that occurred in 2003. Most of the increase occurs in the area of instruction, where an additional $229,000 will be spent. A portion of this increase will result from the hiring of additional staff Ð some 2.5 classroom teachers, as well as an additional administrative component, and a part-time vocational counselor. As they always have, the Board members have placed their priority on the educational needs of our children. Tuition fees that we pay to other school systems will decrease by an estimated amount of approximately $37,000 in 2004. On the revenue side, the Division will receive an increase of some $41,000 in grants from Saskatchewan Learning. This does not include the additional funding that will be received for the Grade 10 programming, because that money will only be available in the 2005 budget year. The amount that the Creighton Community School will receive in 2005 for this year's Grade 10 students will be approximately $112,000. It will, therefore, be included in the 2005 budget. Revenues from local taxation will decrease by $49,000 due to the closure of South Main resulting in a taxable assessment loss of $5.4 million. The Board is also very pleased with the progress that is being made on the Building Project and renovations to Creighton Community School. The architects hope to finish the detailed working drawings related to the building project including the addition of the second floor above the Practical and Applied Arts wing, the emergency fire escape for that addition, the library renovations, the roof repair, and the main office relocation and renovation. Once the working drawings are finished, the project will be tendered, hopefully in the weeks ending May 15th and May 22nd. The tenders will close by the end of May, and the contractor will be selected, with work to begin in late June. The Board will require that the work on the library and office renovations be done during the summer, in order to minimize disruption while school is in session. The addition of the second story and the roof repair can be completed during the fall and the early winter. The estimated total cost of the project will be approximately $1,500,000, although the actual figure will not be known until the tenders are received. Early in 2005, the Board hopes to host an open house for parents and the general public to view the completed project.
