The Chinook School Division will have a reduced staff in the central office for 2017-18 with the upcoming budget $6 million less than this past year's.

At the school division's meeting Monday afternoon at the Chinook Education Centre, where the board approved the budget, the school division's Chief Financial Officer Rod Quintin said they weren't initially planning on such a shortfall.

"We had planned early on for about a $2.83 million adjustment. It turned out to be $6 million. So we had to do a lot of things that we wouldn't have anticipated in terms of our overall expenditures," said Quintin.

Notably Quintin said there was a 30-percent cut in funding for the board, and those on the board are taking less pay.

They also have superintendents retiring, which will clear up some money. But other things, like transportation, are taking a hit too.

"We had some fairly significant reductions in our central office component related to senior administration - 25 percent of our staffing," said Quintin. "A combination of those things plus some significant adjustments like transportation. Less so on facilities and this is what's gotten us to this place."

At the Monday-afternoon meeting, the school division did say they've been selling buses.

Both Rod Siemens (pictured right) and Gary Lusk were honoured Monday for their contributions to the school division over the decades.

Siemens spent 30 years as a principal, teacher and coach before dealing with human resources recently. He'll be back temporarily next year, and Quintin said Siemens was a huge help when things were tough this past school year.

Lusk wasn't able to attend the meeting to receive his award.

Quintin did say another big piece with what's going on with the school division is the status report on their year to date. He said "everything's tracking to where we thought it would be."

WIth the budget shortfall, Quintin said they have a number of $2.6 million that they'll draw from their reserves. But the big question for him is what they'll do next year.