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Scores of people gathered outside the J.A. Burnett Education Centre, the headquarters of Regina Public Schools, on Tuesday evening.
They arrived to show support for the elementary school band program, which faces potential restructuring, as delegates from the Regina Band Parent Leadership Team made a presentation to the board members.
As the board goes over its upcoming budget for 2025-26, it is trying to account for a $2.65 million deficit.
A board member for the Sheldon Williams Area Music Parents Association said band teachers have been told cuts are coming, but the details haven’t been hashed out yet.
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Trent Reschny has been involved with music nearly his entire life. He’s a sessional music lecturer at the University of Regina, and he got his start in the elementary band program.
“I’ve noted and watched and witnessed, through my whole life, the very inclusive nature of music education,” Reschny said.
Reschny said the program offers opportunities kids might not be able to get elsewhere without facing higher costs. He said potential cuts could result in some students switching over to the city’s Catholic school division.
“We just want to actually have a rich environment throughout our community of Regina where everybody can have a chance to grow in a community and activity that involves participatory, experiential learning,” he said.
University student Nicholas Beisel said the band program had a strong influence on his life. He said cuts to the program could cause students to miss out on “one of the major arts.”
“(Band) is creativity and teamwork. Band is a community, and you need to be working with your other bandmates in a way that you don’t do in math class, or English,” he said.
“Other than sports, it’s kind of like the only team-oriented thing.”
Beisel expressed concern that cuts to the elementary band program could lead to cuts in other band programs down the line.
Regina Public School board chair Adam Hicks said school boards are usually given a budget notice and briefing in March, but this year it happened almost two months after budget deliberations.
“Our management team and leadership team have to figure out how to make guesses of what (programs will be affected),” Hicks said during the meeting.
He said not having an earlier budget notice led to a “stressed” and “pressured” consultation process.
The Regina Band Parent Leadership Team said it supports the efforts of the school board to address classroom complexity, but said it isn’t convinced that prioritizing those issues warrants sacrifices in the band program.
“The evidence for music education’s contributions to kinesthetic and linguistic development, emotional regulation, and social growth is overwhelming,” read a written submission to the school board.
“We are not confident that this year’s compressed budget process has allowed sufficient time for thoughtful, creative consideration of alternatives or a comprehensive analysis of relevant data.
“The loss of 4.5 out of 13 teaching positions (and a total reduction of 6.5 positions since 2023) cannot be glossed over as a ‘restructuring.’ It is, in fact, a de-structuring, leaving roughly 35 per cent fewer music educators trying to deliver a meaningful education experience to a growing number of students.”
Hicks said the pleas did not fall on deaf ears, and the trustees would be interested in receiving more data. He said the board has already considered previous proposals from the group and will continue to welcome feedback.
Hicks has previously stated that the band program will not be eliminated.
He said the board is looking to address the deficit in other ways besides cuts to the band program, such as cuts to infrastructure budgets and support staff for intensive-needs programs.
Hicks said there are still several weeks before a final decision is made, and the Regina Band Parent Leadership Team can expect a formal response in a week.
