In general terms, the recent education funding announcement by the province is a positive one, but Mountain View School Division will need a little time to digest the announcement to determine its benefits locally, said secretary-treasurer Lori Slepicka.
“Anytime they’re saying that nobody’s going to see a decrease and everyone’s going to see an increase, that’s definitely positive news,” Slepicka said. “But I haven’t even had a chance to really look at the information. Our details are just coming out. So we haven’t had a chance to work through those at all to see how it all applies to our specific division.”
Early Childhood Learning Minister Wayne Ewasko announced an extra $100 million for Kindergarten to Grade 12 School for the 2023-24 school year, representing an increase of 6.1 per cent over last year’s funding levels.
Since 2016-17, operational funding to schools has increased by $328 million or 23 per cent, the minister noted.
This year’s annual funding increase of $100 million includes:
• a $62.9-million increase in operating support including an additional $20 million to address cost pressures, $5 million for special needs along with increases in other existing grants;
• an $8-million increase in capital support payments;
• a $24-million increase to the Property Tax Offset Grant; and
• an additional $5-million increase for independent schools.
“Our government believes that all students must succeed regardless of where they live, their background or circumstances, and this year’s investment will provide an operating funding increase to each and every school division across the province,” Ewasko said. “Every division will see an increase in funding next year, which will help them engage students and invest in the programs and services that will best meet the needs of local communities.”
It is not that cut and dried for MVSD, however, as there are a lot of unknown variables affecting the budget.
“We’ll definitely see an increase. Whether it’s going to be enough to even cover salary increases, we’ll see about that. We have to crunch some numbers yet,” Slepicka said. “All of our contracts expired in June of 2022 so we don’t know what this year holds for increases. We have seen huge increases in interest and fuel, like everyone else has. Just supplies in general are all going up.”
The province is also investing another $106 million to make one-time funding provided to school divisions last year permanent. This includes $22 million to support student presence and engagement to facilitate the implementation of Safe and Caring Schools, the new policy directive and action plan for enhancing student presence and engagement.
“They’re going to use the old funding formula for this year, but by next year we’ll have a new funding formula so it’s all going to be recalculated,” Slepicka said. “But the dollars should stay unless they do decrease funding.”
Making this funding permanent will help divisions respond to financial pressures, strengthen student learning and supports, and provide additional support for students with special learning needs. Building these increases into the annual funding allotment to schools will ensure these funds remain available now and into the future, Ewasko said.
“This significant investment in Kindergarten to Grade 12 education keeps Manitoba among the highest per-pupil funded provinces across Canada,” he said. “This investment continues to highlight our ongoing commitment to improving literacy and numeracy and strengthening Indigenous education.”
Work continues on the development of a new education funding model, with one-to-one consultations planned with each school division post-budget.
This year’s funding announcement is an important piece in the division’s budgeting puzzle, Slepicka said, adding the process is progressing well.
“We should have a draft put together shortly, especially now that the (funding) announcement is out,” she said, adding a public presentation of the draft budget will be held sometime in early March.
