After some in-camera discussion when meetings would normally be public, Living Sky School Division passed its 2018-19 budget.
Board chair Ronna Pethick said in April, funding from the ministry was reduced by $653,000 compared to last year.
A large portion of the funding decrease was due to a projected 100 less students than last school year to attend the divisions’ schools.
Most school divisions in the province, including Light of Christ, received an increase in funding.
Living Sky Director of Education Brenda Vickers said Living Sky made conservative projections regarding student enrolments. Over projecting, Vickers said, can cause problems mid-way through the school year.
According to Pethick mid-way through last school year, the division was “clawed back $430,000 because of enrolment declining.”
When the provincial government decided to restore some education funding, the funding Living Sky received went toward the $430,000 decrease.
Vickers said given the division's current projections, Living Sky could receive increased funding mid-way through the 2018-19 school year.
Division leadership has made a number of decisions as a result of the funding situation, such as implementing guidelines pertaining to substitute staff. Pethick said the division had some of the highest costs to substitutes compared to other divisions in the province.
Some schools would call in substitutes to cover for teachers going on field trips. Vickers said an example under the new guidelines is a school with two caretakers would call for a substitute on the second day of one caretaker being ill. One caretaker would do the day’s work by themselves.
Job loss was minimal this year. In central office, a temporary contract ended and a retirement took place.
Living Sky added teaching positions equating 2.7 full-time equivalent units, mainly to help improve students’ introductory reading. Vickers said there were “no cuts in school-based staff.”
The pupil-to-teacher ratio decreased to 14.70 this school year from 14.75 last school year, which Vickers said is good for the division.
Living Sky has a relatively high number of First Nation students, who statistically haven’t performed in school as well as non-First Nation students. The Ministry of Education has made efforts to improve First Nation students’ school performance and graduation rates, and Living Sky was mentioned in the province’s 2017 auditor general report. Yet the division has received reduced funding this year.
“A little stress can cause us to think differently and sometimes we’ve found efficiencies that maybe we wouldn’t have,” Vickers said. “But to me there’s a point at which there’s a difference between stress and distress.”
Vickers said she doesn’t think the division is distressed, “but if it gets to that point, we’ll certainly use our voice.”
