The major categories of expenditures are listed below:

1. Appreciation/Gifts/Condolences
   appreciation lunch (usually held in April), holiday break and yearend gifts for the Principal, Vice Principal, Secretaries and Janitorial Staff; any other gifts for parent appreciation or staff condolences
2. Educational Presentations
   Money set aside to book speakers to help educate the parents and/or children about appropriate elementary school topics.
3. Greening
   Provides money to assist in the development and use of outdoor garden areas which enhance the school and provide opportunities for students to play, learn and develop a genuine respect for nature.
4. Miscellaneous
   Includes miscellaneous expenditures for banking, kitchen supplies, GST rebate, DPAC membership, meeting supplies, administrative supplies (eg, printing and photocopying).
5. New School Enhancements
   Includes improvements to the school such as murals, sculptures, painting which enhance the physical school environment for the kids.
6. Parent Participation/School Social Functions
   Provides funding for social events such as welcome back coffee, coffee with the Principal, movie night, holiday band, astronomy night and other PAC-related social events.
7. Performing Arts
   Supports the teacher-led planning and booking of 5-6 performing arts presentations to be made to the school throughout the year.
8. School Safety
   Includes items necessary to help administer a safer environment for parking and dropping kids off at the school, including vests, cones and traffic signs.
9. Teacher Discretionary Funds
   rovides funding to each teaching FTE in the school. These funds are to be used for non-curricular items such as classroom “prizes”, extra books or DVD’s and are completely left to the discretion of the teacher.
10. Teacher’s Wish List
    The majority of the PAC expenditures are allocated to the school for use in the priority areas as identified by the Principal and school staff. Although these may change from year to year (ie, depending on the school plan), the following categories are often used:
    1. Learning Resources: Art supplies, extra books, materials, supplies as required. Teachers request learning resource money through the school budget request process.
    2. Literacy (Library): Books for the library, including French and English books, literary presenters. Our librarian, Madame Elly, is responsible for the use of this fund.
    3. Physical Education: Sports equipment including balls, sticks, nets, ropes, etc. Teachers request PE equipment through the school budget request process.
    4. Technology: Computers, printer supplies (toner), smart boards, document cameras, projectors and related technological items to enhance the educational experience of the kids. The Technology Committee reviews the current technology (including input from the district on the direction of technology in the schools) and evaluates technology requests from teachers to make recommendations on the use of these funds.
       Specific allocation of the Teacher’s Wish List funds within the categories described above is entrusted to the Principal of the school.

After the grant money and the direct donation monies have been received in the fall, the Budget Committee meets to prepare a draft budget of the expenditures of the PAC money. This draft budget is presented at the following PAC meeting (usually in November) and is voted on as presented or as amended at the meeting. In determining the expenditure of PAC funds it is important to keep in mind that PAC monies are intended to be used to benefit the entire school, not just one area or interested party.

Each year, the planned expenditure of the PAC money is prepared from a zero-based budgeting position. That is, PAC budget is not carried over from year to year. The purpose of this approach is to ensure that a particular prior PAC cannot obligate the use of money for future PAC’s (due to the changing nature of the composition of the PAC membership). Clearly, money earmarked for a particular use that was not spent would be considered to be included in the following year’s budget if it is still required, recognizing the intention of the use of those funds. In the same way, money raised with a specific stated goal should be included in the following year’s budget with that same goal in mind (eg, money raised by each graduation class is left for the following year’s graduation class).

The budget of expenditures presented and voted on in the fall does not aim to spend all of the PAC revenue available. In particular, approximately $10,000 is withheld in each year’s budget to have on hand in September of the following year. This money is typically voted on in the September PAC meeting and is used primarily for Teacher’s Discretionary Funds (an amount allocated to each teaching FTE in the school to be used at the teacher’s discretion) and the Performing Arts Budget (a teacher-led planning and booking of 5-6 performing arts presentations to be made to the school throughout the year). Other major PAC initiatives where the intention is for the funds to be carried over would also be excluded from the money available for expenditures (eg, this year we are holding over $20,000 towards the replacement of our playground at a future date). In addition, the expenditures presented in the budget in November might not be designed to use the entire remaining amount of available revenue. This is to provide some flexibility in meeting requirements which arise during the year, which cannot be foreseen at the time of the initial budget.

Parents wishing to know more about how the PAC money is allocated and being used are welcome to attend a PAC meeting (financial position is reported on at each PAC meeting by the Treasurer(s)) or could contact the Treasurer(s) directly.