School divisions face tough calls on cuts

Given the provincial government’s education funding cuts, Saskatchewan’s 28 school divisions are starting to talk about where they can cut corners.

Chinook School Division was the biggest loser, receiving $6,752,000 less funding for operations and preventive maintenance and renewal (PMR) — an 8.1-per-cent decrease compared with the current fiscal year.

“There’s no doubt that it’s not going to be easy.

“We’re looking at virtually everything,” said chief financial officer Rod Quintin.

Overall, school divisions saw a 2.6-per-cent decrease (or $49,391,000) in operational and PMR money; total funding was $1.876 billion.

Lloydminster Catholic School Division was the only division to see an increase — five per cent more, or $506,000, due to its projected seven-per-cent enrolment increase.

Depending on the school division, operating grants make up anywhere from 50 per cent to 80 per cent of a budget.

For the current school year, with a 0.8-per-cent overall funding increase, only a handful of school divisions had a relatively easy time balancing their budgets.

Most reduced costs in administration, transportation and maintenance, and some put off projects in attempts to not lay off staff.

Finance Minister Kevin Doherty pointed to those examples last week.

“School divisions were able to find money without laying anybody off. And yet we heard this constant refrain that they were underfunded.

“So, can there be program reductions and some co-operation and consolidation among school divisions …? We believe so,” said Doherty.

He suggested that two urban school divisions co-operate on busing.

That’s one direction Katherine Gagne believes the Regina Public School Board will look. The province’s second-largest school division sees a 2.3-per-cent funding cut to the tune of $5.18 million.

“It didn’t come as a surprise that we were probably going to be looking at a reduced budget, so we’ve had some discussions. … We want to keep teachers in front of students and keep that our primary focus and support that learning,” said Gagne, Regina Public’s board chair.

The board, which was set to discuss the budget after its public meeting on Tuesday night, will “quickly” schedule a meeting with Regina Catholic Schools to talk about busing.

Chinook has less opportunity for collaboration. The large school division takes up the entire southwest corner of the province, barring overlap with a couple of tiny Catholic school boards.

Quintin said Chinook is now looking for $3.3 million “beyond what we had already planned for” to balance its budget for 2017-18. It ran an operational deficit this school year.

“Everything is on the table. This is a big hit,” said Quintin, whose board meets April 4.

“Our goal all along is to keep it as least intrusive into the schools as possible. But the magnitude of this cut is such that we probably can’t do that. We’re probably going to have to go into the schools somewhat to balance,” he said.

School divisions must submit their budgets to the Education Ministry for approval by June 30.

Regina Catholic Schools loses one per cent of its government funding, or $1.12 million.

Saskatoon Catholic Schools fares second-best among school divisions, receiving 0.7 per cent, or $1.15 million, less funding.

Saskatoon Public Schools is coping with a $4.3-million funding decrease, or 1.8 per cent.

Chairman Ray Morrison was unavailable for an interview. Last week, he said he hopes to keep cuts out of the classroom.