The trustees of the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) approved an operating budget of $3.4 billion, which includes an expected deficit of $40.4 million primarily due to pandemic-related costs.

The board approved the 2022-23 operating budget on Wednesday evening, prioritizing support for mental health, student safety, and the resources needed to fight hate and racism.

The budget includes hiring more full-time social workers, child and youth workers, school safety monitors, early arrival coaches, and English as a Second Language teachers.

Millions will also be allocated to support Indigenous education, the Black Student Excellence Centre, and TDSB’s Human Rights Action Plan.

Colleen Russell-Rawlins, Director of Education at TDSB, said in a statement, "Despite a challenging year for the budget, we are making strategic investments to continue supporting our students in specific areas such as mental health/well-being, early literacy, English as a second language, student safety, resources to combat hate and racism, and technology. This support will be critical to meeting the needs of our students arising from the pandemic as they enter the new school year."

However, the budget includes an expected deficit of $40.4 million, or 1.4 percent of operating allocations, mostly due to "unfunded pandemic costs, and ongoing Ministry underfunding in a number of areas."

In response, the board has put in place a three-year deficit recovery plan, which is not required under regulatory guidelines but "demonstrates that the financial position of the board is not at risk long-term."

The board notes there are "a small number of staffing cuts" included in the budget "to better align staffing with student numbers," due to declining enrollment and the cancellation of one-time Ministry funding.

The cuts include eliminating 18 full-time positions in the first year, and reducing 50 to 70 full-time positions in each of the next two years. The board says this will achieve nearly $1.7 million in savings in the first year and $6.5 million in savings in each of the following two years.

TDSB Chair Alexander Brown said in a statement, "While every effort has been made to ensure the deficit has limited impact on programs and services delivered to students, it is clear that TDSB would be in a more stable financial position if we had adequate Ministry funding and if ongoing underfunding in a number of areas were avoided. Despite these significant challenges, we are committed to allocating resources to meet the needs of our students and the TDSB community."

Since March 2020, the board says it has incurred over $69 million in pandemic costs funded by the board, which have not been reimbursed by the Ministry of Education. Many Ontario school boards have only been able to absorb pandemic-related costs themselves after the Ford government allowed them to spend reserve funds totaling up to $500 million combined.

Additionally, TDSB says there are $64 million in other revenue losses due to the pandemic, in areas like international students, permits, rentals, continuing education, and cafeteria sales.

On the other hand, the trustees said they will use their reserves to balance the operating budget for the 2022-23 school year.

Edited by: Dima Abu Khair