School District 57 has approved 44 learning team grants totalling $125,000 that will allow teachers to take part in professional development initiatives this school year during regular school hours.

The workshops are based on such broad topics as writing, numeracy, technology, literacy, assessment and project-based learning and will be available to 294 district teachers.

The $125,000 the school board has budgeted will pay the salaries of substitute teachers to take the place of the full-time teachers while they attend the workshops.

For example, two elementary school teachers from Westwood and Blackburn schools will study how to use media technology to stimulate student appreciation and awareness of First Nations cultures. At PGSS, eight teachers will determine how parents and students will respond to hands-on learning and practical concrete manipulative drills to learn math topics such as integers, fractions, and geometry.

"It demonstrates to our teachers in our district that the board and our senior leaning team value the work that's happening in our schools," said Cindy Heitman, district principal of curriculum and instruction, at Tuesday's public meeting.

Heitman said all learning team inquiry questions will be posted on the board website so teachers at other schools can get involved in the professional development activities of their colleagues.

n The school board's total assets at the end of June 2012, including education ministry funding, all investments, cash and capital assets amounted to $150,569,189, as highlighted in a financial statement from the accounting firm KPMG approved Tuesday by trustees. Teachers salaries accounted for $51,677,218, the largest expenditure in the 2012-13 budget. An unappropriated surplus of $3.48 million was set aside for future budgets, part of a $13.15 million fund to pay for future operations.