In March of each year, the ministry publishes the Operating Grants Manual showing estimated funding allocations for school districts for the upcoming school year. These estimates are based on enrolment projections. On September 30 of the new school year, enrolment is counted and the grants are recalculated based on actual enrolment. The ministry holds back a portion of funds to be released subject to enrolment changes. Summer learning funds are also included in the holdback. The final budget figures are published in December of the school-year in Recalculated Operating Grant tables. The Recalculated Operating Grant also shows the amount of the $71 million holdback that was released for enrolment adjustments. Enrolment for Distributed Learning and Special Needs students is counted several times a year, so the ministry retains some of the holdback to cover potential enrolment increases in these programs. The basic enrolment-based grant increased by $21 million and the Unique Student Needs supplement increased by $17.5 million. This increase is partially offset by a $3.6 million decrease in the Enrolment Decline supplement. About half of the holdback ($32 million) was released after the September enrolment count, of which $15.4 was allocated to the Summer Learning grant. This left $16.6 million to cover the $38.5 million increase required to fund the extra students (basic enrolment and special needs) who were not budgeted for in the March estimates. What was not expected was the $25.3 million decrease in the salary differential supplement between the March 2009-10 estimates and the Autumn 2009-10 recalculation. (Contains 6 tables and 3 footnotes.)