A poll conducted by the Calgary Board of Education reveals CBE optics are not in line with the public’s priorities for board spending.

The survey is the second released this year asking where the CBE should direct spending. Respondents want more teachers, more support for special needs students and money for school maintenance. Similarly, the earlier survey, conducted in February, prioritized maintaining class sizes and increased funding for special needs and facility maintenance (the CBE claims a $798-million backlog of deferred maintenance). There were 1,455 respondents to the first survey and 6,100 to the second. The majority of respondents were parents and school-based CBE employees.

Public priorities for education spending match the CBE Board of Trustees’ stated budget process values, but diverge in respect to some of the CBE’s financial decisions.

A recent report in The Calgary Herald claims the CBE board budgeted $10,000 for food at meetings, and employs two executive assistants with a combined income of $214,000.

While these figures are only a drop in the ocean relative to the CBE’s billion-dollar budget, any appearance of frivolity, particularly in the way the board spends money on itself, is likely to irk parents and teachers. The CBE eliminated approximately 170 teaching positions this year, saying its fiscal hands were tied.

On October 18, the Board of Trustees voted to put $19 million, recently given by the province, back into the hands of school principals. Each principal will decide how to spend their share of the money.