Trades and Tech Centre hit by budget cuts

Post-secondary education was also on the long list of losers in last week’s provincial budget.

And the provincial cuts include the local Parkland College taking a cut of “13 per cent in government funding year-to-year,” said Dwayne Reeve, president of Parkland College.

Reeve said the cut is deeper than they had anticipated.

Going into the budget announcement Reeve said they fully expected a five per cent education cut in operation funding, and were ready to deal with that.

But the cuts were more severe.

“We got hit harder than most,” he said. “We lost 25 per cent of program funding … We lost just over $1 million in operating and program funding.”

The cut takes funds to Parkland College from $7.1 million to $6.08 million, “which is significant,” said Reeve.

The cuts without warning are disappointing, said Reeve.

“The most difficult part, in the past we’ve been given a head’s up there would be some program changes. With this we were blind-sided,” he said.

Not having an opportunity to prepare for cuts which are so foundational “is not appropriate, nor good policy.”

The loss in funding hits the new Trades and Technology Centre hard, with $500,000 provided by the government eliminated completely.

Reeve said the government is now maintaining the half million was a transitional fund to help with the Centre’s launch, adding that is a different story than they had gotten earlier.

“It’s not the indication we got last year,” he said.

Reeve said they will now have to see where they can trim $500,000 from costs, three-months into the year. He said they will hope to maintain existing class options, but added at least one is already likely to be lost.

Another area to take a big hit for Parkland College is all $300,000 in funding for its online adult education effort.

Reeve said the online program provided Grade 10 and Grade 12 training, which the government suggests can be found online from other sources.

While that is technically correct, Reeve said Parkland College had a program which met specific needs.

“Our course was tailored to support the needs of adult learners,” he said, adding because of instructor help the online programming “provided more opportunities for success.”

The online program was expected to serve 415 students last year, but the year-end number was actually 434, and Reeve said it is anticipated 2017 users “would be slightly above that.”

“There is a need,” he said, adding it is not clear what they will be able to provide moving forward.

Provincially, there is concern about the broader post-secondary education cuts.

“As a public institution, the University of Regina recognizes that the current fiscal situation in Saskatchewan requires some tough choices,” detailed a release sent to media last week on behalf of Dr. Vianne Timmons, President and Vice Chancellor, University of Regina. “However, we are disappointed that today’s provincial budget ignores the affordability challenges facing students and neglects the significant economic and social benefits of investing in post-secondary education.

“Post-secondary education is critical to the economic and social health of Saskatchewan. Our University contributes more than $542 million to the local economy every year. Throughout their lives, our graduates earn more money and experience lower unemployment than those with a high school diploma. Post-secondary education has paid, and continues to pay, social, economic and cultural dividends for generations of Saskatchewan citizens.

“Today’s budget accelerates a pattern in recent years of funding levels far below our needs. By cutting funding to the post-secondary sector, Saskatchewan is eroding its competitive advantage and undermining its stated goal of growing our province.”