Catholic division to hire 37 new teachers

Saskatoon’s Catholic school division has passed a balanced budget for the upcoming school year, but officials say an increased enrolment and reduced funding will present some challenges.

The division was able to balance its estimated $185.8 million in revenue against its $185.5 million in estimated expenses, but officials say they are being asked to do more without adequate resources, as the division is still recovering from the previous budget cycle.

“This year’s process of setting our budget has once again brought to the surface many of the tensions in our service: there is consistently more that could be done than resources to accomplish it,” wrote Greg Chatlain, director of education, in a message contained in the budget.

The budget for the upcoming school year was presented and approved at a board meeting on Monday.

Despite the challenges, the division will hire some new employees — 37 teachers and 19 education assistants to support 490 students. With the additional employees, the division’s Average Classroom Loading (ACL) will go unchanged.

CHALLENGING BUDGET

In her written message, board chair Diane Boyko said the 2017-18 budget was the most challenging the board ever passed and this year’s budget “lies in the shadow” of that document.

Last year’s provincial budget cut about $54 million from school divisions. The province later announced it would reinstate $30 million, but Boyko said that doesn’t go far enough.

“Although the modest increase in funding this year is welcome, it only covers projected increases in expenditures because of enrolment growth and inflation,” she said. “It does not return lost funding, nor does it allow us to restore services or programs that were eliminated because of lack of funding.”

An estimated 18,567 students are expected to attend Saskatoon’s Catholic schools in the upcoming school year, an increase of 2.7 per cent.