The Pembina Trails School Division approved its budget for 2021-2022 late last week, slashing $6.6 million in expenditures, and also pulling over $1.5 million out of its accumulated surplus fund to cover maintenance, to keep high school class sizes smaller and retain teacher-librarian positions.<\/p>\n
The division’s trustees released a budget on March 12 showing a combined operating and capital expenditures of $183,772,080.<\/p>\n
A typical homeowner with a house valued at $436,889 will see a decrease of $68 a year or $5.67 a month in 2021 school taxes. In lieu of raising local property taxes, the province is providing a property tax offset grant in the net amount of $2,166,351.<\/p>\n
Board chair Kathleen McMillan noted the budget process was challenging, given the reduction in provincial education investments, a government directive to freeze the property tax levy, the pandemic, increasing enrolment, inflation and a recent arbitration award to division teachers of $12.5 million over four years.<\/p>\n
“We need to be frank with our community. This budget is not sustainable,” McMillan said in a press release. “For the first time in Pembina Trails history, we are moving ahead with what we know will be a deficit budget. Deferring an unprecedented amount in infrastructure maintenance and using $930 thousand from our surplus funds to cover necessary building repairs is far from ideal and not a permanent solution.”<\/p>\n
The division is also using $616,300 from the accumulated surplus fund to minimize high school class size increases and reductions to teacher-librarians. They will increase literacy support by four positions in early years schools, to help students deal with pandemic-related learning loss.<\/p>\n
However, the division will reduce English as an Additional Language specialist positions in kindergarten to Grade 8, reduce divisional-based allocation for educational assistant staff, decrease school instructional budgets and defer the start of the Kindergarten Here We Come program.<\/p>\n