River East Transcona trustees blame inequitable education funding, propose 15.5% tax hike

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/03/2025 (239 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Transcona-area school trustees pointed a finger at the province for failing to overhaul the education funding formula as they tabled a proposal to hike local taxes by 15.5 per cent Monday.

The River East Transcona School Division is planning a $268.3-million operating budget for 2025-2026.

The blueprint prioritizes hiring staff to meet growing enrolment, rebuilding a surplus and setting aside funds to both open a new elementary school in Devonshire Park and reconfigure existing classrooms until it is ready.

It hinges on the largest year-over-year percentage increase in education property taxes shared by any school division in Winnipeg.

“Due to the lack of funding and the inequitable funding model, we are expected to do more with less as the student population continues to grow,” Brianne Goertzen, the board of trustees’ finance chair, told a public meeting Monday evening.

Internal projections suggest enrolment across RETSD’s 42 schools will reach 19,144 in the fall, up 383 students from the first term of this school year.

The board is planning to hire 44 more educational assistants and grow its roster of classroom teachers, teacher-librarians and clinicians by nearly 36 full-time equivalent positions.

The purchase of eight new school buses at $225,000 apiece and increased mental-health services for students are among new purchases under consideration.

Trustees also want to replenish a rainy-day fund that’s dropped below a recommended threshold of four per cent of the overall budget, Goertzen said.

The Ward 3 trustee, who is also a mother of an RETSD student, said community feedback shows residents want to strengthen existing programs rather than explore cuts. The reality is the division’s low mill rate and small commercial tax base mean homeowners are unfairly called upon to make up funding shortfalls, she said.

The board is considering a mill rate hike of approximately 5.8 per cent. That translates to a $277 increase in annual school property taxes for a typical homeowner with a residence valued at $360,600.

Before the NDP government’s new $1,500 flat rebate, the average homeowner in RETSD is expected to pay a total of $2060 in annual fees.

Secretary-treasurer Elise Downey said the board has received $4 million in new funding for 2025-2026 or about half of what it was allotted for the current school year.

Downey indicated the only noteworthy change to Manitoba Education’s funding formula is that it is now calculating future allotments based on the strongest enrolment recorded in each division over the last three years.

“The change to enrolment does not benefit school divisions with increasing enrolment like ours,” RETSD’s chief financial officer said Monday.

Throughout the meeting, Goertzen criticized consecutive governments for failing to make significant changes to how they pay for public education to improve equity.

“We were promised, the Manitoban people were promised, a revamped funding formula last June and here we sit, in March 2025, without (one),” the finance chair said.

Goertzen noted that “yet another committee” has been struck to work on the file.

The former PC government assembled a consultation team in November 2021 to hammer out a new funding model ahead of the 2023-2024 school year.

The Progressive Conservatives, who had pledged to phase out education taxes on property, put off the project during an election year.

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Following the 2023 election, the NDP announced it would carry out the initiative. Officials announced on Feb. 10 that they are reviving a stakeholder advisory committee on school funding.

Education Minister Tracy Schmidt defended the province’s latest announcement, arguing that it does reflect an overhaul because there is now annual funding for school meal programs.

The NDP made “a generational change” in 2024 by distributing $30 million to expand breakfast, lunch and snack programs, Schmidt told reporters during a news conference held inside an RETSD school one month ago.

RETSD was allotted a three per cent increase in provincial dollars, including funding to run nutrition programs in each of its sites, in 2025-2026.

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.