River East Transcona sounds staffing cuts alarm

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This article was published 28/05/2021 (1961 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Following the approval of a new collective agreement for teachers that includes retroactive salary payments, River East Transcona School Division has informed its employees staffing cuts are unavoidable to balance its budget.

The chairman of the school board said in a memo to staff Thursday there will be financial impacts across all departments in the upcoming school year to fulfill the new agreement.

“After exhausting the majority of our divisional surplus, the board of trustees approved a motion identifying over $3 million required to offset these new budget needs,” wrote Jerry Sodomlak, a trustee who represents Ward 1 in the Winnipeg-based division.

“It is impossible to find $3 (million) without reductions to staffing.”

Sodomlak said there will also be $1.6 million in reductions to the maintenance and information technology departments.

He pointed a finger at the provincial government for underfunding education in recent years, and restricting the board’s ability to raise the education property levy to prepare for increased staffing costs.

Earlier in the week, teachers in the Winnipeg School Division received similar news. Its local board has announced it will have to cut as many as 130 teaching positions, through both attrition and layoffs.

“It can’t possibly be the only option… but the division makes decisions on how funds are spent,” said Michelle Wolfe, president of the Winnipeg Teachers’ Association.

“I’m hopeful that the division will — before actual layoff notices are given — exhaust all of those other possibilities.”