Winnipeg School Division looking at 3.4% property-tax increase

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This article was published 15/02/2024 (599 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s largest school board is considering a 3.4 per cent hike in residents’ property taxes to lower elementary class sizes, expand meal programs and start phasing out lunch supervision fees in 2024-25.

Drawing on feedback collected from families in the fall, the Winnipeg School Division has created a wish list in spite of high inflation-related costs accrued in recent years.

Chief superintendent Matt Henderson said he plans to recommend the board of trustees vote to raise the municipal levy to maintain existing programming and allocate $2.6 million to act on some priority items raised by parents.

“We’re proposing that we raise it to the cost of living that the province has identified (3.4 per cent),” Henderson told the Free Press.

“If you have an average house of $250,000 — which is the average house price or property value in Winnipeg School Division — you would pay $51 more a year, but then with the rebate, you would get half of that back.”

The NDP government announced it was restoring trustees’ right to raise local property taxes as part of its annual public school funding announcement this month.

On average, school boards will see their baseline funding increase by 3.4 per cent — the national inflation rate in 2023. The cost of living is forecast to rise between two to three per cent this year.

WSD is receiving a one per cent increase as a result of its stagnant enrolment statistics. That figure is 3.1 per cent when taking into account an extra $4.8 million earmarked for expanding nutrition programs.

Henderson said the division has already identified almost $4 million in administrative savings in a bid to cover expenses related to salary contract settlements, service agreement inflation and the rising cost of current programming.

The division is scaling back student transportation costs by renewing an emphasis on catchment areas and neighbourhood schools.

“We want to make sure that if a kid can see their school from their apartment or from their front step, that the supports are there for them and there’s high-quality education happening (locally),” Henderson said.

The superintendent indicated he is concerned that flexibility in allowing students to attend the school of their choice has resulted in a divide of desirable and undesirable schools.

“That’s egregious and so, we’re wanting to put an end to that,” he said.

Division administration has created an infographic of budget priorities put forward by parent councils as well as its geographic and standing advisory committees.

Per the summary, respondents are requesting smaller class sizes, improved instruction, additional learning support staff, no-fee lunch supervision, division-funded playground renovations, settlement service upgrades and safer schools.

The province is asking school boards to achieve a ratio of one certified teacher to 20 students across kindergarten-to-Grade 3 in the fall.

Henderson said WSD’s goal is to ensure all K-8 classrooms attain that ratio and there is one learning support teacher — be it a resource educator, guidance counsellor or another professional — for every 80 students.

“Some of the feedback was around improved instruction…. We know that, certainly, lower class size has something to do with that but we also know that teachers watching each other teach and providing each other with feedback is really the best bet to improving practice,” he said.

Also top of mind during budget discussions is restoring the division’s roster of library technicians, bolstering music education and expanding extracurriculars to support families with child-care challenges, Henderson said.

Families can weigh in on the draft budget during a public forum at Tec Voc High School on Feb. 26. WSD is also accepting written submissions via board@wsd1.org.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca