Prairie Valley adds teachers, technology

The Prairie Valley School Division will see 15.2 more full-time-equivalent teachers in 2018-19, along with a major boost in computers for students.

The school board — which oversees schools in Regina-area communities including Pense, Lumsden, Balgonie, Fort Qu’Appelle, White City and Wolseley — finalized its budget for the coming school year at a meeting on Wednesday.

Classroom instruction was a priority, said board chair Janet Kotylak, and the board was able to invest with a $1.7-million boost to its operating grant in April.

“This bump in funding gave the board more flexibility when planning for next year,” said Kotylak, quoted in a news release. “Ensuring students have what they need to be successful was the board’s top priority.”

To that end, over the next few years the division will work toward decreasing its classroom technology hardware ratio, meaning there will be one laptop or iPad per two students, instead of one per three students.

Prairie Valley schools serve almost 8,500 students.

The addition of 15.2 full-timeequivalent teachers means a considerable change in the pupilteacher ratio in Grades 1 to 3 — from 30 to 24 students per teacher.

An increase of $273,000 to its preventive maintenance and renewal funding means the board will be able to complete more school renovations.

“Modern, functional and welcoming learning environments help to serve the needs of students and staff, and we are very pleased to accelerate the pace of infrastructure work,” Ben Grebinski, director of education and CEO, said in a release.

The Prairie Valley budget also allows for renewing the division’s bus fleet and curriculum resources, refreshing classroom furniture and improving classroom sound systems, among other projects.