(File Photo/paNOW Staff)

By Jaryn Vecchio

Frustrated and Confused

STF believes education funding still not enough, province picking favourites among divisions

Jun 8, 2023 | 2:00 PM

The Saskatchewan Teacher’s Federation (STF) believes the province is picking favourites when it comes to education funding.

They held a news conference on Thursday where they once again shared their frustration with the recent $40 million announcement made by the province and how it’s not nearly enough to properly support all schools.

While they explained this funding will do little to help any school division, the STF does believe the province is throwing more support behind divisions in urban centres.

Despite being the third biggest city in Saskatchewan, Prince Albert isn’t getting the same funding as other larger communities as both divisions, the Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Division (Sask Rivers) and Prince Albert Catholic School Division (PACSD) are still looking at budget shortfalls.

Samantha Becotte, president of the STF, said she’s not too sure why this is the case but believes it probably has to do with the number of students.

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“The government is looking at this with a very narrow lens on enrolment growth only and not looking at the full picture of chronic underfunding in the last decade.”

While the STF agrees that divisions dealing with more students should get additional funding, they have an issue with how the province appears to be divvying it up.

They gave an example during the conference, comparing funding for the Saskatchewan Distance Learning Centre (Sask DLC), the North East School Division (NESD), and the Northwest School Division (NWSD).

The three are getting around the same amount of funding despite the NESD and NWSD supporting over twice the number of students. The STF did explain that around $24 million of the Sask DLC’s $57 million in funding is for starting-up and operation costs, however, when that’s taken out of the equation the overall funding it’s receiving per student is still higher.

“This funding doesn’t add up,” said Becotte. “$40 million for 27 different school divisions to address all of the issues of enrolment and class complexity, and yet, the Saskatchewan Distance Learning Corporation is now expected to see over $57 million in funding for the upcoming school year.”

Overall, the STF is frustrated with how the province is dealing with education.

In their opinion, the funding isn’t enough, and many of their decisions are confusing. One thing they don’t understand is why six of the 27 school divisions weren’t considered for half of the $40 million that was allocated.

Five of the six school divisions, Sask Rivers, PACSD, NWSD, Light of Christ, and the Île-à-la-Crosse School Division, are all situated between central and northern Saskatchewan.

“I really don’t know, and I don’t want to make guesses,” added Becotte. “It really does seem like they’re ignoring the challenges we’re facing.”

The STF is calling on the province to increase funding by an additional $360 million to match what levels were like back in the 2012/13 school year.

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Jaryn.Vecchio@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow