Manitoba stays the course on school funding

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This article was published 10/02/2025 (233 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Kinew government pledged to build a new school in Transcona Monday, at the same time it released the underwhelming results of a long-awaited review into how the province pays for public schools.

Devonshire Park families can expect a new elementary school with capacity for 600 students and an additional 74 child-care spots to open in September 2027.

It’s a stand-alone construction project — a stark contrast to the previous government’s now-defunct plan to build a school in the area, along with eight others in a public-private partnership (P3) bundle.

“Please be assured that our government does not make false promises. When we commit to a new school, it will be built,” Education Minister Tracy Schmidt said during a news conference on the grounds of the River East Transcona School Division.

Schmidt announced her office is following through with its commitment to “stable and predictable funding” for the sector at large.

The new formula does not stray far from the status quo, with minor tweaks that maintain trustee taxing powers and guarantee each division a minimum one per cent hike in 2025-26.

The education minister highlighted that the department has adjusted how it calculates enrolment, the key determinant for each division’s annual allotment.

Divisions will receive funding for the coming school year based on their highest annual enrolment figure over the last three years.

Wayne Ewasko, interim leader of the Progressive Conservatives, called the minimal adjustments “entirely disappointing,” especially because educators and stakeholders had long been calling for a revamp.

“They are going back to the taxpayers (to make up funding shortfalls) and putting school divisions as the bad guy,” Ewasko said.

Flanked by Premier Wab Kinew, RETSD leaders and students from Bernie Wolfe School in their K-8 building’s library, Schmidt defended the “incremental changes.”

The former Progressive Conservative government announced a K-12 education funding overhaul in 2021. The review was the first of its kind in 20 years and its findings were postponed on multiple occasions.

“Last year, when we introduced a $30-million universal school nutrition program — that was a generational change to the funding formula that’s going to be felt and we’re going to see the return on that investment for years to come,” Schmidt said Monday.

The overall growth in operating funding amounts to 3.4 per cent — the same percentage announced last year for the current school year.

For individual divisions, the increases range from one per cent to about 10 per cent. Those sums will reflect enrolment growth, property values and transportation requirements.

Divisions that have growing student populations, smaller tax bases or challenges specific to being a rural or remote school, including lengthy school bus rides, will receive higher funding increases.

Preliminary estimates suggest the K-8 school planned for Transcona’s Devonshire Park is estimated to cost about $55 million.

RETSD board chair Colleen Carswell said she was in disbelief that the project is finally moving ahead after a decade of “tirelessly advocating” for more classrooms in the division to meet unprecedented growth.

Carswell acknowledged the contributions of late education minister Nello Altomare, a career educator in the division whose recent death will trigger an imminent byelection in Transcona.

Construction is anticipated to begin in 2026 at a five-acre site adjacent to Sir Robert Borden Park near the intersection of Devonshire and Jerry Klein drives.

The Tory education critic was quick to point out the location is different from the one at 328 Peguis St., formerly the site of Sumka Brothers Greenhouses, purchased for a new school in RETSD under the former government.

Grant Jackson said the official Opposition is concerned the province bought another piece of land for the sake of not using the purchase made by his PC colleagues.

Meantime, the NDP is reinstating a stakeholder advisory group on school funding to continue making minor tweaks. The Tories had disbanded the committee.

“This isn’t a radical change in the formula. We’ve gone for stable, consistent operating (funding), and I think that’s what’s required,” a senior department official told reporters during a technical briefing held before the public announcement.

“Shifting significant dollars from one school division to another in a single year creates a fair amount of disruption in the system, and we’ve opted for stability and support.”

The Manitoba Teachers’ Society welcomed both the revival of a committee made up of representatives from education organizations that will discuss matters related to school funding and overall funding increase.

Union leader Nathan Martindale noted MTS has long advocated for annual allotments to meet or exceed the rate of inflation.

“The 3.4 per cent meets that requirement, so to speak, so we’re pleased,” Martindale said.

In 2025-26, a $104.8-million injection of provincial dollars includes $67 million for operating support, $30 million for school nutrition and $7.8 million to run independent schools.

An extra $6 million has been set aside for capital financing projects, including principal and interest costs related to building schools.

“Not seeing any board get a decrease, that’s huge – but the other part is and the reality is, there are going to be some hard conversations (during winter budget season), as happens every year,” said Sandy Nemeth, president of the Manitoba School Boards Association.

Also Monday, the province announced it is expanding its community schools program to include five additional sites, for a total of 53. Each recipient receives a grant amounting to roughly $80,000.

These schools, which are typically in low-income neighbourhoods, receive extra support to hire a community liaison worker who might lead attendance initiatives, run parent-education programs and spearhead other projects to address non-academic needs.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca