Saskatoon Board of Education officials are calling on the provincial government to include inflation as a factor in preparing their budget in the future.
The board approved on Tuesday an operating budget of $287.7 million for the next school year, which is $9.4 million higher than the previous year but still short by $8 million as it failed to address key issues including inflationary costs.
The budget for the next school year includes a reduction of 14 FTE for positions at the central office, two FTE for business functions, a 0.5 increase to the division’s staffing ratio that would reduce 13.5 FTE for elementary teachers and seven FTE for secondary teachers, eliminating secondary career facilitators or 2.25 FTE, and the reduction of 2.75 FTE for secondary teacher librarians, seven FTE for English as an Additional Language teachers (1.5 FTE secondary and 5.5 FTE elementary), 18.4 FTE school support positions—including reducing elementary library technicians and community school educational assistants, and a 10 per cent cut to school budget lines and another 15 per cent to the central office.
Board chair Colleen McPherson said they are going to submit a balanced budget to the Ministry of Education as required by the Education Act before the end of the month and that despite the $8-million shortfall, they would still continue to advocate that the government allot more funds to education.
“This shortfall is the result of chronic under-funding from the provincial government, particularly for the inflationary pressures we face every year – our utilities bills are going up, our insurance premiums have increased and our growing enrolment requires resources.”
“If we look at per-student funding adjusted for inflation, we’re receiving $344 less per student today than we received in 2016-17. As a board, we are frustrated but determined to advocate for sufficient, sustainable and predictable funding for education in this province,” added the trustee for Ward 5.
She said that despite having a quarter of a billion dollars for their budget, which is still a lot of money, the board managed to balance the books for the coming year in order to address the $8-million shortfall.
“The current support for learning factors are based on equality rather than equity. It presumes all school divisions in Saskatchewan have a similar percentage of students requiring additional support, but our numbers show this is absolutely not the case.”
“I have already written to the Minister of Education about the fact we are spending about $11 million more in supporting students than we receive in funding. We will continue to press for a change to the funding formula that ensures the money flows to the students, no matter where they attend school.”
Ward 10 Trustee Angela Arneson said that despite being newly-elected to the board, she knows first hand the struggles faced by the education sector.
“I am and always will be a teacher, which is not a job but a calling. As a board member, parent, teacher, I have to say that this budget is the hardest, most frustrating, and gut-wrenching thing that I have experienced and given my own history, that is saying a lot. This budget was hard, because we were told as a board through provincial budget funding to again do more with even less. The story told and message was that we’re given more. More is not more when you think about inflation.”
She then compared the cost of buying a house 50 years ago.
“If you tell my newly-wedded parents in 1970 that you would give them $20,000 to get a house, they will be elated that you just paid for their new home. If you tell a newly-wed couple today that you would give them $30,000 to get a house, $10,000 more than my parents were offered, they would thank you for giving the down payment funds for their new condo. More is not more when you think about inflation. Any budget that does not consider the inflationary expenses is missing the mark.”
Arneson added that the board, based on records, spends the money wisely so it is right to ask the government to be fair.
“The budget was frustrating because this board is not being wasteful, see our numbers and we are not asking for a lot. We are asking for fairness and fair play. Fairness in keeping up with inflation and fair play in ensuring funds for support for learning follows the child.”
Ward 3 Trustee Donna Banks said that the board would work to let the government know what the implications of an $8-million shortfall meant for the Saskatoon Public Schools.
“As we all know, we spend $11 million more than what is included in our budget. We are proud that our division does what is right for the right reasons but it comes at a cost. We will work really hard to advocate to let the people in government understand what it takes to run a division.”
