South East Cornerstone school board receives financial update

WEYBURN - The South East Cornerstone Public School Division is on a solid path in financial terms, according to Marilyn Yurkiw, who provides the board members with monthly financial details. 

Yurkiw, a financial manager for the public school division, points out any financial disparities that may surface from time to time and provides explanations for these twitches in the revenue and expense sheets.

During the board's last meeting of 2021 on Dec. 15, Yurkiw noted that as the first quarter came to a completion, the division was around the 24 per cent mark on the both the revenue and expense side, which meant “we are pretty well on track. There will be no changes in grants, but we have been informed by the ministry (of Education) that changes are coming.”

So far the division is about $180,000 above budget on the revenue side and that reflects the increased numbers of students coming back into the regular fold following disruptions due to the COVID scenarios.

“We have not experienced any changes to projections and school generated funds are below budget on both the revenue and expense side, again due to COVID restrictions,” she said.

During an opening segment of the public meetings, Cornerstone trustees and administrators are invited to briefly discuss events and/or issues they encounter in each of their sub-divisions or cities as they make their rounds visiting school community councils or school-based events.

Several members spoke up about student groups they met with, concerts that had to be moved to virtual to accommodate the recent new wave of COVID concerns, smaller schools winning sports titles in spite of disadvantages on the fields or courts of play, and the challenges they all faced.

There was also a short report from chairwoman Audrey Trombley regarding the board’s forum with MLAs who represent constituencies within the public school division, which is an annual event.