This is an annual process. Through collaborative discussions with our principal, we review the needs of the school for the upcoming school year. We first ask the principal to optimize the School’s EPSB budget. This means that an annual plan is developed where 95% of EPSB funds are allocated towards staffing, while the other 5% go towards supplies, equipment, and services (SES). For the 2022/2023 school year, due to budget cutbacks, the principal received special permission to use 96% of his budget for staffing. 

We then review the remaining needs of the school, taking a variety of factors into consideration, including additional costs for Judaic studies components (e.g. extra teaching minutes, curriculum development), Jewish holiday events and celebrations, and Hebrew and Judaic books and supplies, etc. We also consider other parental priorities for learning enhancements such as literacy and classroom makeup and size. It is important to note that, as a rule of thumb, based on EPSB funding models, it costs approximately 25 students per classroom to fund 1.0 FTE (full-time equivalent) teachers. Therefore, in situations when our classes are smaller than this, it requires top-up funding to prevent multiple joint classes.