Hiring on the to-do list for Saskatoon Board of Education

The Saskatoon Board of Education passed its budget for the 2020-2021 academic school year on Tuesday night.

It includes $278.3-million in expenses, an increase of $6.6-million.

“In an organisation like ours our largest expense is people,” Saskatoon Public School Board Chair Colleen MacPherson explained.

She breaks down the budget at about 74 per cent instructional cost, like teaching staff and resources, and just over 15 per cent on school operations, including maintenance.

With approximately 477 new students expected in the fall MacPherson said hiring new staff is necessary.

“We require 29 new teaching positions,” she said. “We are also hiring 40 full-time educational assistant positions. That is a ten per cent increase in that job category and really reflects the need to support our most vulnerable learners.”

The highlights of the budget, according to MacPherson, is the focus on maintaining class sizes and addressing students needs.

A wrench in the planning is how COVID-19 will impact physical classrooms in the fall.

On June 9 the province announced schools would re-open for the fall semester, but didn’t give guidelines for how it will work.

“This budget represents what we can control but there are many, many things that are out of our control,” MacPherson said.

She expects to have more details on how schools are supposed to operate in mid-August.

“(That’s) when we finally know what track this virus (COVID-19) is on, what the expectations of the chief medical health officer are and what will be required,” she explained.

The province’s Education Response Planning Team — which includes representatives from the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation and the Saskatchewan School Boards Association — is to provide guidance to school divisions throughout the reopening process.