Seven Oaks division to cut positions next year

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/03/2022 (1332 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There will be eight fewer teachers and 20 fewer support staff in the Seven Oaks School Division in September 2022 in comparison to the start of the current academic year.

The board of trustees in the northwest Winnipeg division, which oversees roughly 11,700 students in 26 schools and two adult learning centres, has finalized its 2022-23 budget.

“We are hopeful that we can keep class sizes reasonable and maintain programming for next year, but we really need provincial funding to keep pace with cost of living and enrolment increases. It hasn’t been doing that,” said Greg McFarlane, chairman of the school board, in a release Friday.

The board is budgeting a deficit of $800,000, which will require Seven Oaks to “dip into its limited surplus in order to avoid deeper cuts,” the release said.

The division touted the fact it directs 82.2 per cent of its budget directly to classrooms, while the provincial average is 78.8 per cent.

Throughout the current financial planning season, boards across the province have been drawing up blueprints in the face of budget restraints related to spiking inflation, COVID-19 expenses and staff wage settlements — the third of which is a result of a 2021 arbitration ruling that overturned Bill 28, the province’s now-defunct public-sector wage freeze legislation.

Manitoba is providing divisions with one-time grants to address financial pressures, but total annual operational funding in 2022-23 does not keep pace with the cost of living.

Seven Oaks will receive $30,000 less in provincial funding next year, as a result of a dip in enrolment amid the pandemic — even though administration is projecting the K-12 student population will reach 12,000 by the end of June 2023.