2003/04 Annual Service Plan Report -- Ministry of Education

Report on Resources

	Estimated	Other Authorizations	Total Estimated	Actual¹	Variance²
Operating Expenses ($000's)
Public Schools	4,075,817	—	4,075,817	4,027,967	47,850
Independent Schools	167,349	—	167,349	165,387	1,962
Debt Service and Amortization	569,434	—	569,434	545,270	24,164
Management Services	17,375	—	17,375	17,158	217
Executive and Support Services	29,964	—	29,964	30,854	(890)
TOTAL	4,859,939	—	4,859,939	4,786,636	73,303
Full-time Equivalents (FTEs)
Management Services	100	—	100	85	15
Executive and Support Services	217	—	217	204	13
TOTAL	317	—	317	289	28
Ministry Capital Expenditures (CRF) ($000)³
Management Services	1,079	—	1,079	511	568
Executive and Support Services	4,050	938	4,988	5,556	(568)
TOTAL	5,129	938	6,067	6,067	0
Consolidated Capital Plan Expenditures (CCP) ($000)⁴
Public Schools	195,000	—	195,000	138,978	56,022
TOTAL	195,000	—	195,000	138,978	56,022
Other Financing Transactions ($000)
Not Applicable	—	—	—	—	—
TOTAL	—	—	—	—	—

The Province has changed its accounting treatment with respect to recognizing certain federal contributions towards K-12 education. The impact on the 2003/04 fiscal year is a $52 million reduction in both CRF revenue and CRF education expense. There is no impact on provincial net operating results.
There are a variety of federal funding arrangements in place under which federal contributions towards K-12 education may be paid directly to the province in some cases or to school boards in other cases. Previously, to provide a consistent accounting and reporting of these funds, the gross cost of education was reported as a provincial expense. To avoid double funding of students, the amount of contributions received by school boards was recovered from school boards and reported as provincial revenue. Total funding received by school boards was unaffected by this change in accounting.
Under the revised accounting treatment, CRF education revenue and expense will no longer reflect funding that is paid directly to school boards.

Variance between Estimated and Actual Expenditures:
Public Schools — mainly related to the change in accounting treatment as described in note 1 above.
Independent Schools — lower than budgeted independent school enrolment.
Debt Service and Amortization — $33.6 million in reduced debt service costs offset by $9.5 million net over expenditure in Amortization of Prepaid Capital Advances. Debt Service costs were less than budgeted due to lower than anticipated interest rates, higher than anticipated sinking fund earnings and reduced capital spending. Amortization of Prepaid Capital Advances was adjusted for (1) over-amortization of previous years $45 million and (2) estimate of school closures $54 million.

Ministry Capital Expenditures — additional authorization of $938,000 was approved by Treasury Board from government contingency to fund the Common Student Information System.

⁴

Consolidated Capital Plan Expenditures — For ongoing construction projects, a major contributing factor to the underexpenditure of $56 million was a slower pace of construction, usually work force related, that has resulted in delays in the completion of projects. Some other projects were delayed in starting due to budget issues or high tender prices. For new capital projects approved in 2003/04, cash flow projections proved to be overly optimistic, as some site acquisitions did not proceed as quickly as anticipated, and other projects had not completed the design phase.