The Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario has reviewed and approved the financial statements for the fiscal period of September 1, 2020, to August 31, 2021.
Associate Director of Education, Bonnie Norton introduced Ashley Hutchinson, Manager of Finance, who presented the financial statements for the 2020-2021 school year, followed by Rob Clayton, Partner with KPMG, who presented an unqualified Auditor’s Report to the Board of Trustees.
“As always, the Board strives to make the best use of its fiscal resources, to provide transparency and accountability with regard to the allocation of those resources, and to optimize resources in support of student achievement,” began Ashley Hutchinson.
“As the GSNs are largely driven by enrolment, it is important to note that the Board has experienced a growth of approximately 54 FTE in 2020-2021. This increase has helped generate additional GSN funding in 2020-2021.
The CDSBEO is also forecasting an enrolment increase for 2022 of 221 students, or 1.7% over the 2020-2021 estimated enrolment.”
Total revenue for the 2020-2021 school year was $206.5 million, and expenditures totaled $197.2 million. The Board’s financial results include an accumulated in-year surplus of $9.35 million, $7.57 million of which is available for compliance.
Unavailable for compliance surpluses totaling $1.78 million were applied to fund items such as employee future benefits, interest accruals and school generated funds.
During the 2020-2021 school year, the CDSBEO reported Covid-19 related capital and operating expenditures totaling $13.5 million, the majority funded by the provincial and federal governments.
These expenditures included $4.5 million in HVAC/air quality improvement projects, $1.1 million for staff/student personal protective equipment (PPE), $1.5 million for enhanced cleaning/early dismissal costs for transportation, $2.2 million to support additional technology devices to facilitate remote learning, $3.1 million to fund staffing and digital resources for the virtual learning elementary school, and $1.1 million for additional custodial cleaning, health and safety training, special education, mental health and supervision costs.
“It’s my pleasure to be here tonight to present the Auditor’s Report. KPMG has completed the audit, and in our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of CDSBEO as at August 31, 2021.
The results of the Board’s operations, and changes in its financial position for the year, are in accordance with Canadian generally accepted accounting principles,” concluded Rob Clayton, Partner of KPMG.
The 2020-2021 Financial Statements will be submitted to the Ministry of Education by mid-November.
