LEARNING IN ONTARIO
Technical Supplement
- Enhancements to Student-Focused Funding, December 2002
- Benchmarks
- Intensive Support Amount (ISA)
- Transportation
The complete report is also available as an Adobe Acrobat file (PDF, 23 KB).
Enhancements to Student-Focused Funding
December 2002
This document provides a technical outline of the changes to the 2002–03 student-focused funding approach resulting from the government's initial response to the release of the Report of the Education Equality Task Force (EETF).
Benchmarks
In response to the recommendation that benchmark costs be updated, the government is increasing teacher and non-teacher salary benchmarks by 3.0 per cent.
As a result of this decision, the Basic Amount of the Foundation Grant and most of the special purposes grants have been increased, since most special purpose grants include a salary component.
The increase to salary benchmarks for the Special Education Grant has been effected through adjusting only the SEPPA portion of the grant. Amounts for eligible ISA 2 and 3 files, and ISA 4 funding, are unchanged. The estimated costs of salary benchmark increases for staff funded through ISA 2 and 3 have been added to the SEPPA portion of the allocation.
Boards retain flexibility concerning how to use this enhancement. For some boards, this funding will be used for salaries. For others, the funding, or part of it, could be used for programs that were reduced to address salary pressures.
Boards' actual costs for salaries will vary and can continue to vary from the new benchmarks, as long as boards remain in compliance with expenditure enveloping and other requirements of the Education Act and regulations for financial accountability.
It is important to note that most of this increase is an enhancement to classroom funding. The increases to the various grants also affect the attribution of grants to expenditure categories, with the result that the grant-by-grant distribution of classroom and non-classroom funding has also been adjusted.
The following table, Table 1, reflects the change in salary benchmarks on a grant-by-grant basis.
| Grant |
December benchmark enhancements in
$ millions |
|---|---|
| Foundation |
208.8
|
| Special Education (SEPPA Component) |
42.0
|
| Language |
10.9
|
| Geographic Circumstances: Remote and Rural Allocation |
1.7
|
| Geographic Circumstances: Small Schools Allocation |
2.0
|
| Learning Opportunities |
7.7
|
| Continuing Education and Other Programs |
3.6
|
| Teacher Qualifications and Experience |
17.5
|
| Early Learning |
0.8
|
| Administration and Governance |
8.3
|
| School Operations |
40.4
|
The following table, Table 2, reflects adjustments by grant to the distribution of classroom and non-classroom funding.
| Grant | Elementary % allocated to the classroom | Secondary % allocated to the classroom |
|---|---|---|
| Foundation |
79.76
|
76.23
|
| Teacher Qualifications and Experience |
91.19
|
84.52
|
| Geographic Circumstances: Small Schools Allocation |
51.78
|
49.86
|
| Geographic Circumstances: Remote and Rural Allocation |
75.30
|
71.44
|
| Early Learning |
71.16
|
|
| Continuing Education and Other Programs: Adult Day School |
75.97
|
|
| Language: Native Language and French as a First or Second Language |
91.70
|
85.44
|
| Language: ESL/ESD/ALF/PDF |
88.00
|
82.03
|
| Learning Opportunities |
78.34
|
75.21
|
| Special Education |
92.79
|
88.97
|
Intensive Support Amount (ISA)
In response to recommendations related to special education, the government is investing $250 million on an annual basis in new funding for teachers, education assistants, and other specialists for students with special needs. The funding will be allocated as follows.
School boards will receive an increase of $130 million immediately. Each board will receive the difference between the value of its eligible ISA claims to the end of cycle 3 (including grandparented, cycle 1, 2, and 3 eligible files) and its previous ISA 2 and 3 allocation for 2002–03, where the value of eligible claims to the end of cycle 3 is higher than its allocation. The value of eligible files is calculated using current per file amounts ($12,000 per eligible ISA 2 file, $27,000 per eligible ISA 3 file).
The remaining $120 million will be distributed once the validation of cycle 4 files has been completed, and once an audit has been completed to provide assurance that students whose files are in the baseline are actually enrolled in school boards.
The following table provides a hypothetical example of the expected funding flow for ISA 2 and 3.
| Board's actual allocation($) | Timing of cash flow | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Board's original ISA allocation for 2002-03. | $10,000,000 | Already in board's base, and paid as part of board's normal monthly cash flow. | |
| 2 | Value of board's ISA eligible claims to the end of cycle 3, above its original allocation. | = Total value of files in baseline at end of cycle 3, less row 1 | $2,000,000 | Immediate cash flow, paid as part of board's normal monthly cash flow; amount for September to January included in January payment. |
| 3 | Value of ISA eligible claims at the end of cycle 4. | $1,000,000 | ||
| 4 | Adjustment after audit, reflecting the removal of ISA eligible files from the baseline for students no longer enrolled in the board. | ($250,000) | ||
| 5 | Further increase to annual ISA funding at completion of review (= row 3 less row 4). | $750,000 | ||
| 6 | Funding flowed to board at completion of the review, for the remainder
of the 2002-03 school year. Reflects the annual funding, provided only for the period from January to August. |
62% of further increase at completion of review (row 5) | $465,000 | This funding will be flowed as soon as possible at completion of the review; cash flow details will be provided at completion of review. |
| 7 | Total ISA allocation in 2002-03 | Rows 1 + 2 + 6 | $12,465,000 | |
| 8 | Total ISA allocation, annualized in 2003-04 | Rows 1 + 2 + 5 | $12,750,000 |
Transportation
In response to the EETF's recommendations related to student transportation, the government is allocating the $20 million in permanent transportation funding announced in the June budget. This funding will ensure that school boards work together to provide safe and effective transportation to their students. This adjustment brings the total estimated Transportation Grant for the 2002–03 school year to $631 million.
For the current school year, the funding will be allocated as follows:
- $6.4 million to help school boards form partnerships to deliver transportation co-operatively, using student transportation management software to plan the most efficient bus routes. This investment is allocated in proportion to each school board's projected 2002–03 transportation allocation. For boards that are already delivering transportation as a consortium, this amount can be used for other local priorities. This component is a one-time only allocation. Decisions regarding the distribution in future years will be made at a later date.
- $6.1 million to offset cost pressures (such as insurance, capital costs, and driver wages) faced by school bus operators. This investment has been allocated on the basis of 1% of each school board's projected 2002–03 transportation allocation.
- $4 million to support training of all elementary and secondary students on bus safety. This investment is allocated on the basis of $2 per student.
- $3.5 million to supplement wheelchair-accessible transportation. This investment is allocated on the basis of $1,000 per student requiring these services as identified in the 2000–01 and 2001–02 annual student transportation surveys.
The ministry is committed to refining the transportation grant, to ensure that funding is fair and equitable. The ministry will continue to work with school boards, bus operators, and parent representatives to develop a new transportation funding formula.
Table 4 illustrates the addition of the enhancements for which payment is imminent to the total estimated student-focused funding allocation for 2002–03.
| $ millions | |
|---|---|
| Total Student-Focused Funding Allocation 2002-03 Estimates without enhancements | 14,266.7 |
| Enhancements | |
| Benchmarks | 343.7 |
| ISA Cycle 3 | 129.1 |
| ISA Projected Cycle 4 | 75.0 |
| Student Transportation | 20.0 |
| Total of Enhancements | 567.8 |
| Total Student-Focused Funding Allocation 2002-03 Estimates with enhancements | 14,834.5 |
