March 2009, the provincial government announced a new funding model for school boards, removing their access to the taxation base.
Fifteen months later, the government has yet to iron out the details, making it difficult for school boards to effectively plan.
"It's frustrating because there's still no policy on capital funding," said Ray Kopera, chief financial officer for Living Sky School Division.
"How do you plan? How do you take the operational plan the board has set out and fulfill that?
MLA Randy Weekes, who visited the school board at their last regular meeting, said it's a concern the Ministry of Education is aware of, but offered few reassurances.
"The ministry is working hard to come up with that formula now, but whether that will be ready for the 2011 budget, we don't know," he said.
Weekes said every school board he has visited has had the same concern.
Prior to the 2009 decision, individual school boards would determine the education portion of property taxes, called mill rates, within their division boundaries based on their needs for the fiscal year. Municipalities would then collect the taxes and provide that portion to the school board. School boards could also secure loans for projects and pay them off over a set number of years.
Under the new model, the provincial government determines a province-wide tax rate, which is still collected by the individual municipalities. Exactly how that money will be distributed is still being determined.
Deputy Premier and Education Minister Ken Krawetz said the move was made to reduce the reliance of school boards on property taxes.
"As a result, property owners will be paying less, the mill rates across the province are all reduced," said Krawetz.
"They're also uniform, so if you have a house in the Battlefords and I have a house in Invermay, we pay the same mill rate. Our assessments are different, but we pay the same mill rate."
At the same time, the government added over $100 million to the school boards' budgets to compensate for the decline in revenue from property taxes.
Kopera said there are pros and cons to the new model.
"A pro would be that school divisions are recognized for a level of funding, so there's a guaranteed cash flow, but a con would be the increased approval process," he said.
Although school divisions have received interim funding until the new model is determined, Kopera said the transition has put a number of expenditures on hold, particularly capital projects, such as non-school facilities.
"We need access right now to resources in this division to fund a project that's been on the books for three years," said Kopera.
The education minister, who spent nine years on a school board, said he's faced with a dilemma because the previous government underfunded education needs. Krawetz said since his party has come into power, over $342 million have been invested into education infrastructure. However, he pointed out that over 70 per cent of school buildings in Saskatchewan were built before 1969.
"We're dealing with schools that are well over 40 years old; they need renos, they need repair, they need replacement in some cases, and that's not an easy task to tackle when the previous government was only spending 20 million dollars a year on capital," said Krawetz.
Krawetz said he understands the situation faced by school boards, but wants them to know the government is doing its best to develop a new model he hopes will last well into the future.
