Wise Investments

Our first year of Literacy has resulted in improved outcomes for student learning. Grade 1 reading scores indicated six months growth over the previous year’s cohort. Students, who have experienced difficulty with reading throughout their school years, made over a year’s growth which is a tremendous achievement for these students.

The 2005 investment in VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) will result in approximately $600,000 operating cost savings over a seven-year period. In addition, this project will provide a phone to all classrooms (increasing the number of phones currently from 900 to 1,950) resulting in an improved communication utility for instructional staff. Furthermore, new paging, intercom and bells standards for school operations will be realized.

Deferred maintenance of $112.7 million in 2004 and is expected to be reduced to $107.7 million, representing a $5 million reduction in backlog of work or 4.4%.

By participating as a partner in integrated community centres the Board’s expenditures in facilities will provide enhanced learning opportunities and will benefit the community as a whole. Our public sees integrated community centres as a wise investment of public funds.