Education minister discusses funding, end of provincial exams as school resumes in Saskatchewan

As students head back to classes across Saskatchewan, Everett Hindley, the province’s education minister, joined the Evan Bray Show to discuss the ways the provincial government is working to give kids the best start possible.

The conversation covered funding from both the provincial and federal governments, the end of Grade 12 provincial exams and the change room policies all school divisions were required to develop.

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Listen to the full interview here, or read the transcript below:

The following questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.

Summer has gone by in a snap, and the school season is there. How are you feeling? How are we looking, as a province, as we start our school year this year?

EVERETT HINDLEY: I think there’s a lot of excitement, Evan, as there is every year as we get into the start of a new school year. There’s some anticipation, some excitement and, you mentioned, a little bit of nervousness, I think, for everybody involved. That includes the students, the teachers, the EAs, all the support staff and division staff in our schools. And, I think, everybody’s anxious to kind of get back to the books again here and and get back into the back into the rhythm of things.

There’s been a number of changes, as there always is, in the education system as we continue to try to make sure that we are giving our students their best start in Saskatchewan schools. So we’ve made continued, significant investments, particularly in the last couple of budget years, into the education sector. This year we’re really focusing a lot more on the K-3 literacy, making sure that we give students the ability to have all the tools they need at a young age to be able to succeed. So that’s critical for us. You’re seeing the expansion of the specialized support classrooms project as well, to provide some additional supports for fellow students who might need a little bit extra help. So these are some of the things that are that are being implemented across schools in our province and making sure that we are doing everything we can to support our students in every way possible.

Saskatchewan Education Minister Everett Hindley. (650 CKOM file photo)

So much of what’s happening today is just getting back into routine. You kind of get lax through the summer, which is what summer is all about, but now teachers and students are back in the classroom, and that includes the ban on cell phones that we saw come into play last year. Have you had much feedback on that? And do we anticipate a smooth transition back to that this year?

HINDLEY: Yeah, we do see some feedback on that, Evan. I think, by and large it’s been positive. And I can tell you, I have had some some letters and some emails from students are questioning the ban and why we have it in place with respect to the cell phones in the classroom, and making some very, very valid arguments, I would say, in terms of why they feel that it’s important. But by and large, I’ve heard – particularly from from teachers and school divisions – that it has been beneficial, that they have noticed an increase in in students being able to concentrate and be better focused on their schoolwork. And so that’s been positive for us to hear. That was the intention of this, was to make sure that there is that increased focus in the classroom on the individual student studies. It has been reported back to us by teachers that it has been beneficial to helping improve what’s happening in the classroom and helping students to to succeed with their studies.

Last week, the Fraser Institute released a study on education spending in public schools in Canada. When they make adjustments for inflation, there were five province that experienced decreases in inflation-adjusted per-student spending. Saskatchewan was actually number two on the list. How do you see that, minister? Is there a worry that we’re losing ground that maybe we gained, I think, when we came to a conclusion in that labor agreement? It appeared as if we were making maybe some strides forward. Does this report show that we’re actually stepping back? Where are we at?

HINDLEY: I think you watch what happens across the across the country and with education systems right across Canada. You look next door in Alberta, they’re getting set to renegotiate with their teachers’ union there. But I’m pretty proud of the work that we are doing in Saskatchewan when it comes to our education system. The 27 school divisions in our province of receiving a $2.4 billion in school operating funding for the ‘25/‘26 school year. That’s a record increase here in Saskatchewan of about $186 million, or 8.4 per cent, that’s on top of the previous budget to increase into education, which was an 8.8 per cent increase last year over the year before that. So we’re making these sorts of very important strategic, targeted operating investments into school infrastructure as well.

Look at last year – and we’ll see what the numbers are, as they kind of shake down with respect to enrolment at the end of September – but last year there were about 200,000 students across Saskatchewan. That was a record number. It increased about 5,000 students from the year before, and so when you have those sorts of pressures – and they’re great pressures to have in a growing and vibrant province – you are sometimes playing catch up, but you want to build ahead and make sure that you’re addressing some of those capacity issues. So I’m proud of the investments we’ve made into into education. Yes, there’s more work to do, and that’s what we’re going to continue to do in conjunction with our partners in the education sector.

Will we see an increase in education funding? And maybe, along with that, is there room for an efficiency review? Some will suggest – and we had lots of talks, robust talks about this during the labor dispute – that perhaps we’re top heavy in terms of school division administration, or just administration in general. Can you talk about what needs to be done to get our funding up to where it needs to be?

HINDLEY: Well, there’s no limit to the to the end of the asks and the needs in the education sector, whether it’s on the capital side or on the operating side. We’re going through the budgeting process right now as we prepare already for next year’s budget, right across the provincial government, but of course in the education sector, so we’ll see what that looks like. And this is something that I, as the minister, and our team watch quite closely as the year – both the school year and the government’s fiscal year – rolls out. How are those investments working? How are they impacting our education sector? And are there areas that are working, where the dollars that we are spending are working really well? Are they making an impact, the impact that we expected, or are there some things that need to be changed? And I think that’s a constant effort for us, to make sure that we’re trying to find a way to get the best use of our dollars, because there are finite taxpayers’ dollars when it comes to this. And so I think we watch that closely. Want to make sure that we’re spending our dollars wisely and that they’re getting to where they need to be, getting to the front lines, getting to the students sitting in those desks, those teachers in front of the classrooms who are or teaching our kids, and plus the support staff as well. So that’s something we watch very closely. We want to make sure that that we are spending those dollars as best we can.

We’ve seen a number of educational assistants laid off in this last year because of a significant cut in funding from the federal government. This is the Jordan’s Principle funding to the tune of $3.1 million. What’s the province’s role? Are you expected to pick that up? How do you see this playing out?

HINDLEY: It’s important funding for for the schools who have applied for it through the Jordan’s Principle funding mechanism. And for us as a government, we’re appreciative when the federal government is stepping in to provide that funding in these cases. But what’s, I guess, a little bit frustrating for myself as the minister is when, for whatever reason, the federal government decides to pull back that funding. In the case earlier this spring, with a situation in Saskatoon, where as I understand it, it was a delayed response to the application for funding and by the time that the school division found out, they had already hired the EAs and were left with a shortfall that made for some difficult decisions. So I don’t know if it’s responsible for for the provincial government to be stepping in every time that the federal government or some other agency pulls back their funding, because we try to budget out our spending and we do so very thoughtfully and carefully in the Ministry of Education. So it is a bit frustrating. Now, that being said, we’re grateful and appreciative of the of the collaboration we have with the federal government, and we do work well on a number of items. For example, earlier this spring we signed on to the National School Food Program with the federal government, which will start to get rolled out here this fall as well. So we’re grateful for for federal funding and these sorts of initiatives, whether it’s that particular program or whether it’s Jordan’s Principle, but it is a bit frustrating for for us when the funding gets pulled and then provincial government is expected to backfill that funding. So that’s a challenge. It’s something that I will advocate for when talking to the federal minister, to say, “Look, this is important funding for school divisions, but it’s challenging, though, when when decisions are made that have this impact that directly impacts students in our schools.”

So will you be backfilling a portion of it? Or is your position that this is the federal government’s responsibility?

HINDLEY: As of today, I would say no, we’re not planning on backfilling it. We didn’t budget for this. So what is the federal government’s responsibility now, if they’re making some wholesale change to the program itself and deciding to get out of it? I guess that’s a different conversation to have. But they set that expectation where this funding would be available to school divisions in specific circumstances, and so they set that expectation. And again, that’s not something we’re planning for at this point in time. I guess if that was to be the case, if this appears to be something that the federal government is going to continue to do, or if this is something that they’re going to get out of, then I guess that’s a conversation we have to have. But as I said off off the top here, we’re trying to make sure that the dollars that we do have from the from the provincial treasury, that we’re spending them as wisely as possible in the education sector. And it becomes challenging when there’s these unexpected expenses that come up mid cycle.

Minister Hindley, we’ve only got a couple minutes left, but I want to talk about the discontinuation of Grade 12 provincial exams. This was announced this year. Why was that decision made? And is there a worry that we won’t be able to consistently measure student performance without them?

HINDLEY: I don’t think so, you know. Just for a bit of background on this, I think Saskatchewan was the last, or one of the last provinces still utilizing the Grade 12 provincial examinations. We had feedback from the Saskatchewan School Boards Association president, Shawn Davidson, and a number of school board chairs advocating for it to the government, as well as others advocating for the change. And across the province, we’ve heard that school boards have welcomed the announcement of something that they’ve been looking forward to for some time now. And as we talked about a bit earlier this year, Saskatchewan will be launching a provincewide student assessment program that will happen in a phased approach, where we start to roll this out over the next couple of years. And that’s what we’re going to try to do, to make sure that we are measuring student achievement, making sure that our students are learning what they what they should be learning, and that they’re at the levels that they need to be, and that ties into the K-3 literacy, making sure that kids, by the time they are exiting Grade 3 and moving into Grade 4, that they are reading at that Grade 3 level. So the new Saskatchewan student assessment program, which will be developed in consultation with our teachers and those within the education sector, that’s going to ensure that we do have a proper, provincewide student assessment tool in place. We’ll make sure that our kids are are learning what they need to learn, and they’re achieving what they need to achieve, because at the end of the day that’s what we’re all trying to do. It’s about our students, (and) making sure that they have the best opportunity to succeed in our Saskatchewan schools. I’m confident that this new program and these changes will help.

Minister Hindley, the change room policy. I know that was given to the divisions to come up with a policy. Is there a deadline for that to be in place, and will the province be approving them?

HINDLEY: Yes. So the deadline was at the end of June that all 27 school divisions had to have a policy in place and and posted online on their websites for the general public to be able to to view and to see. And so now, the start of school, we’ll will see how that rolls out. The school boards, the SSBA, they asked for the authority to be able to develop these policies, to be able to implement them on a local basis, to make sure that every single student is accommodated. That means all the students, and that they have a way in place to make sure that every student feels safe and comfortable within their schools.