Winnipeg School Division raises summer course fees

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This article was published 16/05/2023 (884 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg School Division is hiking its fees for summer courses for the first time in a decade.

The WSD board of trustees unanimously voted to raise tuition for the upcoming session, which is slated to run out of Grant Park High School throughout the month of July, during a public meeting Monday.

Senior administration recommended its elected officials increase fees “on a cost recovery basis,” per a report prepared by chief superintendent Pauline Clarke, who oversees the schooling of almost 30,000 kindergarten to Grade 12 students in central Winnipeg.

The division typically delivers in-person instruction to junior and senior high students who have failed a course, want to improve their mark or get ahead over the break.

Local residents will now be charged $225 to retake a high school course or $375 to register in a “non-repeater” — up from long-standing fees of $210 and $350, respectively.

Those offerings will cost students who live outside WSD borders a total of $375 or $600, respectively.

English as an additional language is also available and will remain free for pupils inside the divisional catchment this summer. Non-residents must pay $375 to participate in the special programming.

The subject sparked discussion amongst newly-elected trustees, some of whom were unaware WSD charges for summer programming.

“It feels like an additional barrier… I’m actually a little concerned — especially if we’re talking about repeater courses, where students are coming back to take another class and doing that in the summer, why there’s a fee associated to that,” said Tamara Kuly, trustee for Ward 7.

Ward 4 representative Rebecca Chambers requested administration formalize the process of informing summer school applicants about the availability of financial aid from the outset.

While noting WSD currently takes a student’s ability to pay a fee into consideration, Clarke told trustees she would ask directors to discuss the matter with principals at a meeting later this week.

The division budgeted $292,600 for its summer school program — 41 per cent of which was covered by provincial funding — in 2020-21.

In her written submission to the board, Clarke indicated the adjusted fees are in alignment with other school boards.

Summer Learning Academy, located at Glenlawn Collegiate, charges between $225 to $500, depending on the course. Students outside of the Louis Riel School Division face a $50 surcharge.

InformNet has charged $210 per summer course in the past, but the province’s online high school is offering one free e-learning class to every student who wants a redo.

The education department has been covering the cost of virtual summer school since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Summer Learning Academy is already accepting applications for the 2023 season. Registration for the other programs is anticipated to open in early June.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie