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BudgetCouncil sets budget for 2009Inflation, rising caseloads in discipline and more activity in pre-service teacher education program accreditation have pushed the College past the point of being able to absorb rising costs. As a result, Council passed a 2009 budget that includes a $120 membership fee for 223,100 members. “The 2009 budget was a challenge for all concerned as we examined our mandate, objectives and priorities to ensure that any change in member fee was warranted, appropriate and prudent,” Finance Committee Chair John Tucker told Council. The 2009 budget includes operating revenues of $32,338,000, operating expenses of $31,611,000 and capital and deferred charges of $1,397,000. An anticipated surplus in 2009 of $533,900 will be transferred to the reserve for fee stabilization at the end of next year. A motion added $30,000 to the operating support line to maintain the College’s toll-free telephone number. At Council the final budget passed 30 to 3. One Council member abstained from voting. The final budget reflects:
These factors, along with inflation, are expected to drive the College’s net cost per member in 2009 to $117.61 from $110.81 in 2008. Tucker said that the College’s 2008 budget was established as a deficit budget, that revenue and expense projections were on target, but that the annual membership fee was less than the cost of operating. The difference will be drawn from the reserve for fee stabilization as planned, he said. The projected deficit is $1,403,000. The Finance Committee ensured that the budget was based on three goals:
Since the membership fee was first set at $104 in 2002, the work of the College has increased significantly. Additional legislative, regulatory and bylaw requirements have resulted in increased reporting practices, program reviews and expanded workloads in every department. The 2009 budget is part of a three-year financial plan that enables the College to implement Council direction while exploring options for new facilities in 2012. In 2007 the College certified more than 8,700 graduates from Ontario faculties and more than 3,600 teachers with credentials from outside Ontario. A 95.6 per cent renewal rate is forecast for next year. This means that approximately 9,600 members are expected not to renew for reasons of retirement or change of occupation, while 12,700 new members will be licensed. The College charges fees for member and applicant services, the largest of which are registration, evaluation and reinstatement fees. The budget also provides for revenue from accreditation fees. All applicants for a teaching licence, whether graduates of Ontario faculties of education or applicants from outside Ontario, will pay $140 ($123 in 2008) to register. Projected revenue for 2009 is based on 13,300 applicants. Evaluation fees for applicants from outside Ontario and Canada remain fixed at $222. The current teacher surplus will eventually cause out-of-province applicant levels to decline. The 2009 revenue projection is based on 4,200 applicants and following years could see greater declines. Reinstatement fees for members looking to return to teaching will rise to $130 from the current $79. Revenues for 2009 are projected to dip due to lower interest rates. Ad revenues from Professionally Speaking, however, are anticipated at $1.135 million. The College’s salary budget will rise by $888,000 in 2009, owing largely to the addition of staff to manage the increasing volume of work in Investigations and Hearings. A budget of $2.41 million has been set aside for 2009 for discipline activities and panels – an increase of $306,000 over this year’s – in anticipation of more pre-hearing conferences, hearings and the unpredictability of high-cost cases. Since 2002, the number of open investigation files has jumped from 98 to 250 and open discipline hearing files have almost doubled from 57 to 106. The College is required to undertake pre-service reviews every three years and the level of accreditation activity varies from year to year. This budget calls for 10 on-site pre-service reviews in 2009, up from three in 2008. The Council and committees’ budget for 2009 has been increased to accommodate the election of a new Council, with many of its members requiring orientation, training and equipment. One third of the estimated $394,000 in election costs will be amortized in 2009. There are 37 Council members now compared to 31 in 2002 and the Council and committees’ budget has risen to $813,000 from $320,000. Improvements to the registry system, first introduced in 1997, are planned for 2009. These include automating a number of manual functions, reinforcing security measures and enabling greater statistical reporting. The budget provides for a 20 per cent increase in information sessions in 2009 for newly registered internationally educated teachers, allocates $50,000 to research ways to increase classroom teachers’ participation in College consultations, and budgets $45,000 to support initiatives to increase the number of Aboriginal teachers in Ontario. The changes to the Teachers’ Qualifications Regulation approved by Council require the creation of 54 new Additional Qualification (AQ) course guidelines for technology. Other AQs and Additional Basic Qualifications must be reviewed and updated. This will be the final year of the creation of new AQ guidelines. Finance Committee Chair John Tucker said that the College’s external auditor Terry McKinnon of Pricewaterhouse Coopers praised College management for following best practices as exemplified by other non-profit organizations. “She saw no weaknesses or improvement areas,” he said, “especially in our efforts at transparency and accountability.” |
