Winnipeg School Division proposes 9.3 per cent tax increase

Manitoba’s largest school division has tabled a draft budget that raises local property taxes by upwards of nine per cent.

The Winnipeg School Division has released a $549.7-million blueprint for its 82 schools, which are attended by 32,000 children.

The plan freezes staffing at current levels, upgrades information technology systems and resumes full-day kindergarten.

“What we’re proposing is basically a stand-pat budget where we want to maintain (our roster of) teachers, EAs and clinicians, ” chief superintendent Matt Henderson told a public budget meeting on Tuesday. “With that, though, comes some pressure.”

The division employs the full-time equivalent of 2,260 teachers, 1,515 educational assistants and 120 clinicians.

This year, the average class size is 17 children in kindergarten-to-Grade 3. It is approximately 23 at the middle years level.

Henderson told the Free Press the numbers should remain relatively stable next year due to “static” enrolment.

Increased wages and benefits are driving the division’s expenses, which are slated to rise 4.6 per cent overall.

School divisions across the province are facing hefty bills to bring teacher salaries up to provincial standards laid out in the first Manitoba-wide collective agreement.

A new provincewide teacher salary schedule will be in place for the upcoming school year.

WSD’s harmonization costs are estimated at $8 million.

The province has allocated a total of $9.2 million, including $1.7 million to address specific wage pressures, in new operating dollars — a 3.2 per cent increase.

“Because we don’t have huge commercial properties like Costco, like IKEA, we’re reliant on our ratepayers,” Henderson said.

He noted about four per cent of properties in the division, many of them in the downtown core, are also exempt from paying these fees.

In order to balance the budget, the board of trustees is considering a 9.3 per cent increase in local education taxes.

The proposed change would raise the mill rate to 15.984, up from 14.630. It would result in $65 more in annual fees for the owner of an average house valued at $270,600.

(Those calculations take the province’s $1,600 rebate into account.)

The draft budget includes a $2.5-million top-up for IT upgrades and $500,000 extra to undertake building maintenance projects, such as replacing aging windows.

A total of $300,000 is being earmarked to run full-day kindergarten at six sites — Machray, Ralph Brown, Lord Nelson, Rockwood, Dufferin and Weston — starting in September.

Other line items include new funding to expand the International Baccalaureate program and build a track and basketball court at Gordon Bell High School.

If all goes according to plan, École Luxton School and William Whyte Community School will also host new band programs.

Mother Katie Krahn urged division leaders to invest in inclusion, improve transition planning and ensure professional development is tailored to classroom-specific needs next year.

Krahn, who identified herself as a mother of a student with a diagnosed disability, prepared a presentation for the board on Tuesday.

“I ask that inclusion be made more visible within budgeting and reporting processes,” she said.

Krahn called for the public release of criteria used to allocate inclusive education funding and how much every school receives.

Asked about her requests, Henderson touted the division’s commitment to increasing professional development for educational assistants.

EAs didn’t participate in any regular upskilling prior to his arrival in August 2023, he said, adding that “now, we’re heading into next year with six.”

The sessions are focused on topics such as neurodiversity and helping students who are dysregulated, he said.

The division is proposing $215,000 new dollars for EA professional development, as well as $538,000 in mathematics-specific training for early years teachers.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca