Living Sky School Division board chair Ronna Pethick, centre left, shown at a prior board meeting. The division is planning its budget for the next school year. (file photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Eye on education

Inflationary pressures add to Living Sky School Division funding needs

Apr 8, 2019 | 9:41 AM

Living Sky School Division is starting to plan for the next school year with more funding from the province overall, although it will still be facing challenges including pressures from inflation.

Board chair Ronna Pethick said the school division’s budget is in its early stages and will need to be passed by the board by the end of June before it can go to the Ministry of Education for final approval.

The division received an increase of $280,000 in its education funding from the province overall for the 2019-2020 school year.

“It does restore some operational funding that was significantly cut two years ago, but the increase is still not enough to fully meet our pressures of inflation,” Pethick said.

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The carbon tax that is now in place in the province will also affect Living Sky as well as other school divisions, the chair added.

“We don’t know the extent of how that will impact us as yet,” Pethick said. “Just inflationary costs for staffing increases, gas, natural gas, power – all those things are inflationary and (the provincial funding) won’t meet the pressures of that inflation.”

Supports for Learning sees reduced funding

For its “Supports for Learning” funding from the province, Living Sky saw a decrease by about $180,000, which Pethick said is unfortunate. This is the item the division is most concerned about, and includes supporting early years education, mental health, its diverse classrooms, intensive needs for students, and staffing.

“This decrease will make it very difficult for our division to meet the growing needs of our most vulnerable students,” Pethick said.

She said unfortunately the province’s budget will not enable the school division to make any significant new investments for these high-priority needs.

“So, we are going to be challenged to maintain the status quo,” added Pethick.

The division is currently working to determine how its funding will impact the next school year. “As we go into our budgeting process, between now and the next two or three months … we’ll see how that rolls out,” the chair said.

Pethick said the division is projecting a very slight decrease in enrolment for the 2019-20 school year. It will need to review the Sept. 30 enrolment figures when they are available to determine the actual numbers at that time. Provincial funding is based on a per-student basis.

Cut Knife project

As battlefordsNOW reported previously, the division is planning to consolidate its two Cut Knife schools into one school for the new school year.

The elementary school students will all be moving to the high school building, which is being revamped to accommodate both the elementary and high school grade levels.

The division committed up to $2 million from its reserves for the renovation project. The upgrade cost will not impact its education budget.

“We started the renovations last year. It will continue this year and hopefully be done for September, and the students will start a K to (Gr.) 12 institution,” said Pethick.

She confirmed the consolidation was needed to reflect reduced enrolment.

Pethick said both School Community Councils (SCC) had previously discussed consolidating the schools in meetings with Living Sky’s board. Public consultations were also held. The elementary school’s SCC was ultimately responsible for making the decision to consolidate.

“They decided it was in their best interest to close the elementary school, and move the kids in to make it one solid and viable K to (Gr.)12 school,” Pethick added. “We’re doing a lot of renovations in the high school to make it an awesome place to work and learn.”

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW