Saskatchewan school divisions to get more gov’t funding

After weeks of people in the education sector speaking out and following a huge rally on the weekend , the Saskatchewan government is confirming it will be giving more money to the province’s school divisions over and above what was laid out in the spring budget.

“Now it’ll just be working with school divisions to determine the amount and, frankly, the timing of when those dollars will flow,” Education Minister Dustin Duncan said Monday.

Duncan said the government will look to add money for school division operations like it did last year with a mid-year adjustment for a similar reason — significant enrolment growth.

“I already have meetings with a couple of the larger urban school divisions next week to discuss a request that they have made to look at a couple of different options in terms of additional enrolment growth dollars,” said Duncan.

The minister explained the divisions are good at predicting enrolment from local birth rates, but enrolment increases after the Sept. 30 deadline have been more difficult to predict, and he said that’s what is causing the discrepancy.

Duncan said figuring that situation out will be part of the meetings he’ll have, and whether the funding formula or frequency will have to change altogether.

“Is this Year 2 of a two-year, mid-year enrolment injection or do we have to rethink how we’re funding enrolment into the future?” asked Duncan.

The minister couldn’t put an exact number on how much the increase might be, just saying it’ll likely be in the millions. And he couldn’t say when the money might come, just that the government would want it to be before November — which was when the increase was given last year — to give some certainty around hiring and classrooms.

“I’ve been told, I think, ‘expeditiously as possible’ (were) the words that (Premier Scott Moe) said to me, and so we’ll be working at this over the next couple of weeks,” said Duncan.

When the decisions are made and when the money flows will be two different things, said Duncan. He said there are questions about whether the money would go out, depending on which fiscal year it would be brought into the divisions.

The decision comes after divisions voiced their concerns and thousands of parents, students, teachers and union members gathered at the Legislature on Saturday for a rally for education funding.
Duncan did not attend the rally; he said he’d been away for four days before that and had family commitments on Saturday.

When asked why he didn’t ask another MLA to attend for him or to send a staffer, Duncan said if he couldn’t be there, then he wouldn’t send someone else for him in that situation.

The minister didn’t think not attending said anything about his mind on the issues, saying he makes himself available for meetings with teachers, parents and is listening to what’s being said.

“The fact that we did do mid-year, in-year adjustments last year both on inflation (and), as well, a couple of months later on enrolment growth shows that the government’s trying to be responsive to the concerns that have been raised, by not only school boards, but teachers and parents,” said Duncan.

Moe was also asked why there wasn’t any government representative at the rally and he said he didn’t know why. As well, Moe said there are numerous rallies in front of the Legislative Building that no government representative attends. He said the more important thing is that government listens, and it has been.

Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck is happy to see more money going out the door, saying the rally on the weekend sent a clear message and may have “finally” gotten through to government.
But Beck also wanted to express continued frustration over cuts school divisions have already had to make because of what she called under funding from the current and previous years.

“I think it’s been incredibly disruptive and hurting and disrespectful,” said Beck.

“I think that it is important that those voices — those who are actually crafting these budgets (and) those who are working in our schools — have a say. But you know, as I said on Saturday, this is a government who has, for a decade, underfunded the system – they’ve shown who they are on education.

“I hope that there is a new funding model, but I think to get the respect that we need in education, it’s going to take a new government.”