Prairie South division to shed positions

Board is facing $4.5M shortfall

Prairie South school division will see layoffs resulting from a $4.5-million budget shortfall.

Board chair Shawn Davidson couldn’t say how many teachers’ jobs would be affected. He hopes attrition can account for the pupilteacher-ratio increase of about one student per class.

At a division level, the board has cut 12 ¼ full-time-equivalent positions, including administrators, consultants and transportation workers. Speaking of transportation, Prairie South is looking to that area to save costs. Due to double bus runs, school start times will be staggered.

Moose Jaw kindergartners will attend school for a full day every second day, as is done in the rest of the mostly rural division. This will save money on noon-hour transportation.

Davidson said there will be no reductions in classroom support workers, including educational assistants, psychologists and speech pathologists.

“We’ve made a lot of cuts there already in previous years, and we don’t have anything left to take from those services,” said Davidson. The budget has maintained practical and applied arts, magnet programs and universal pre-kindergarten.

“We looked in every corner and under every rock and blew off every dusty book trying to find every dollar that we possibly could, in efficiencies and cutbacks that we can keep away from the classroom, and I’m very confident that we did that,” said Davidson.

Prairie South surveyed its staff, parents and communities for ideas of areas that could be reduced.

“Even though it was difficult, the process this year really was excellent and we got to the best place that we possibly could, I believe, given the hand that we were dealt,” said Davidson.

With spending of about $80 million, Prairie South received $3.5 million, or 4.2-per-cent, less money from the provincial government this year than last. Its costs also increased by about $1 million.

The division will dip into its reserve funds to maintain programming and upgrade the HVAC system at Moose Jaw’s Peacock Collegiate, which will create efficiencies down the road.