Province staying the course for post-secondary education operating budgets

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 31/05/2016 (3449 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The public education system doesn’t have to scrap its budgets and find cuts — Progressive Conservative Finance Minister Cameron Friesen delivered promises Tuesday the former NDP government made in January.

But beyond basic operating grants, nothing is certain.

The province will increase its share of operating the public school system by 2.55 per cent — the share is about 60 per cent of a $2.25 billion system; the rest covered by property taxes.

The public post-secondary system gets the 2.5 per cent increase in operating grants that had been the NDP norm in recent years, as did the community colleges with their two per cent increase in grants.

But former premier Greg Selinger had promised the University of Manitoba an additional 1.5 per cent for new programming primarily for indigenous and newcomer students.

That money is gone, with the notable exception singled out by Friesen for mention of a new master of social work in indigenous knowledge launching at the U of M in September.

Don’t be distracted by the huge changes to the seniors’ education property tax rebate — that money, like the education property tax credit, cuts individual tax bills, but has no impact on school budgets.

The budget provides capital spending of $194 million for the public schools finance board and $52.8 million for the post-secondary system, in which may be some of the hundreds of millions of dollars in capital promises Selinger made in January, including $150 million to the U of M’s Front and Centre capital campaign.

“We’ve rejected nothing out of hand,” but everything is under review, Friesen said in an interview. “These are all important discussions that will go on, on an ongoing basis,” with Education Minister Ian Wishart developing partnerships.

Wishart said in an interview that the U of M knows it has to make a case to show a return on investment for any contribution to its capital campaign.

Neither minister would commit to lifting the cap on tuition increases at the level of provincial growth, but Wishart said that will be discussed.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca