By Rosalind Russell – Rainbow District School Board approved a budget of $266.4 million for the 2025-2026 school year at a Special Board Meeting held at the end of June.
According to the board, to balance the budget, $258,000 will be withdrawn from reserves, within one percent of the Board’s operating revenue, as per the limitations set by the Ministry of Education.
Along with the budget, trustees also approved an in-year deficit plan to align expenditures with revenue.
Board Chair David Farrow says the budget assures students continue to receive a quality education channelling funds into where they will have the biggest impact.
He adds the budget maintains programs and services adjusted to address collective agreements as well as inflationary pressures, such as increases in the cost of utilities.
Farrow says when classes resume this fall, the board is projecting an enrolment of 14,196 students.
A total of 76.7 percent of the budget, or $204.5 million, has been allocated to salaries and benefits. Just under eight percent of the budget (7.8 percent), or $20.8 million, will go towards supplies and services, which includes the operation and maintenance of facilities, school budgets, and computers in schools. A total of 7.7 percent, or $20.5 million, will go towards fees and contracts, including the transportation of students to and from school. Rainbow District School Board will receive $15.7 million in school renewal and school condition improvement funding. This represents 5.9 per cent of the budget.
The budget provides the financial framework to enable the Board to achieve the priorities in its strategic plan which will enter its fourth year of implementation. There are six priorities in Strategic Directions 2022-2027 – Student Success and Achievement, Literacy and Numeracy, Truth and Reconciliation, Mental Health and Well-Being, Environmental Education and Sustainability, and Equity and Inclusive Education.
In 2025-2026, Rainbow District School Board will operate 29 elementary school buildings and 9 secondary school buildings in Sudbury, Espanola, and Manitoulin Island. The Board also offers other programs – Child and Adolescent Mental Health Program, Cecil Facer School, N’Swakamok Native Friendship Centre, Children’s Treatment Centre, O’Connor Park, Applied Behaviour Analysis program, Restart, Simulated Healthy Independent Living Opportunities (SHILO) program, Attendance Centre, Mishko-Ode-Wendam, Northern Support Initiative, Frank Flowers School and Barrydowne College operating at Cambrian College.
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