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CALGARY – The Board of Trustees has approved the Calgary Board of Education’s 2015-16 audited financial results, a year which saw extraordinary growth and challenges.

The CBE supported nearly 117,000 students in 2015-16, including over 500 Syrian refugees who were welcomed into our classrooms.

The increase of students was met with open arms by the school communities, which also welcomed hundreds of students from northern Alberta late in the school year when they were evacuated due to wildfires.

“The 2015-16 school year was exceptional in terms of support to the classroom,” said Joy Bowen-Eyre, chair of the Board of Trustees. “Our financial results demonstrate our commitment to our values and ensuring that students come first.”

Other CBE initiatives worked on during the 2015-16 school year included:

Additional funds were invested in boosting staff in our schools to help advance school development plans in support of students and their learning. As well, we provided graduation and success coaches in our high schools for Indigenous students: a proven approach to increasing outcomes for these students.

The planning and building of several new and replacement schools and major modernization capital projects continued in 2015-16. Eight new schools opened this fall and another nine new schools plus the Aboriginal Learning Centre are scheduled to open in the new year.

The development of a comprehensive public engagement framework and holding an extensive transportation review to provide parents and the general public with the opportunity to share their perspectives on how to deliver safe, efficient and cost-effective transportation that is financially sustainable. We also began engagements for schools impacted by new school openings, enabling our communities to have a dialogue on uses for these learning spaces.  

Using existing resources we led the province in creating safe, caring, welcoming and respectful learning environments for all of our students. We also shared our resources with other school boards as they developed their own frameworks. 

The CBE also launched a new mass communications tool to improve communication with our families.

The CBE’s continued investments in student success delivered in strong academic results on the 2015-16 Provincial Achievement Tests and Diploma Exams.

Financial highlights:

• The CBE invested its funding in its students, classrooms and schools: $1.0 billion dollars [including 8,357 Full Time Equivalents (FTEs)] was allocated to instruction in direct support of the achievement of success for each student. 
• Board and system administration expenses continued to be lean at 2.6 per cent of the budget, enabling more resources to be directed to the classroom and classroom support.
• Revenue from Alberta Education was up $64.4 million, an increase of 5.6 per cent. Provincial funding per student increased marginally; however, total funding increased primarily due to enrolment growth. 
• The year ends with a modest $14.6 million surplus.