Winnipeg School Division proposes 5 per cent tax hike in budget

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This article was published 25/02/2025 (193 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s largest school division is floating a five per cent tax hike so it can cover the tab for elementary lunch supervision, hire 25 more library technicians and bolster cybersecurity systems.

The Winnipeg School Division received a 2.4 per cent increase in provincial funding, which includes specific cash to continue running inner-city breakfast, lunch and snack programs, for 2025-26.

Trustees and senior administrators shared Monday evening how they plan to spend those dollars and raise extra funds to pay for new projects, staff wage settlements and inflationary pressures on operations.

If the financial plan is approved as is, the owner of an average house valued at $269,900 would pay about $6.50 extra per month or $78 more annually. Those figures do not include the province’s new $1,500 rebate.

Superintendent Matt Henderson said WSD used a “worst-case scenario” to generate those numbers because it is waiting on up-to-date municipal property assessments to determine real revenues for next year.

“We want to make sure that we’re being responsible as the City of Winnipeg is increasing its property taxes, as well,” Henderson told an audience inside Technical Vocational High School’s auditorium.

“But (we need to raise fees) to include all the things that the community has said that they want.”

The $528.5-million draft budget would add 25 full-time equivalent library technicians, 13.3 teachers, 34.3 educational assistants and three clinicians.

The superintendent indicated increased staffing, better instruction, more extracurriculars and technology upgrades were deemed priorities during community consultations.

“We also heard — and this was from kids, they referred to our network as ‘janky’ and said it wasn’t very good,” he said, noting WSD’s “technology deficit” is estimated to be between $17 and $19 million.

The division is in the process of upgrading its network, replacing aging equipment and installing high-definition televisions in classrooms. A total of $4 million has been earmarked to continue related upgrades next year.

While acknowledging the division’s fortune in avoiding recent cyberattacks that have targeted neighbouring boards’ data, Henderson said WSD is making “significant investments” to bolster cybersecurity.

“We’re vulnerable and we want to make sure that we have robust systems to ensure that children and families’ data is protected, but that comes at a cost,” he said.

An online pamphlet of budget highlights touts new actions to reduce fees for families, such as eliminating lunch supervision fees and upgrading aging school play structures in lieu of requiring parent advisory councils to fundraise for them.

The changes reflect a recent trustee vote to regulate and restrict fundraising rules in the name of equity. Parent advisory councils could previously seek financial donations to “supplement their school budgets,” a reality that resulted in schools in wealthier communities operating far larger bank accounts than others.

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The 2025-26 budget sets aside funding to renovate three playgrounds and construct five industrial kitchens to deliver nutrition programs.

Other initiatives include a pilot that will give Grade 12 students at Gordon Bell and Churchill high schools the opportunity to enrol in a university-level global issues course and the launch of an interdisciplinary education lab at Hugh John Macdonald School.

The financial plan also establishes a $1.5-million fund for teacher professional development.

Board chair Kathy Heppner urged residents to submit feedback on the proposal ahead of trustees’ next meeting on March 3.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Maggie Macintosh
Education reporter

Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., she first reported for the Free Press in 2017. Read more about Maggie.

Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative.

Every piece of reporting Maggie produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.