The 2019/2020 provincial K-12 education budget saw overall increased funding, although not all of Living Sky School Division’s budget lines will increase.
The school division received, according to board chair Ronna Pethick, an increase of funding of $280,000 over last year.
The division received about $59,700,000 in funding last year.
The new budget “restores some operational funding that was significantly cut two years ago,” Pethick said.
In the 2017 provincial budget, legislators decreased K-12 education funding by about $54 million. Living Sky had received close to $3 million less in that budget than in the previous budget.
However, Pethick said the current increase “is still not enough to meet the pressures of inflation.”
Pethick said supports for learning funding decreased by about $180,000. Supports for learning funding, Pethick said, covers a wide variety of things including early years education, mental health and wellness and intensive needs.
The school division now must make its budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
As noted in the News-Optimist last year, school division funding is related to the amount of students projected to attend school.
Pethick said she appreciated that “the Minister has listened, and we look forward to continued engagement.”
Education Minister Gord Wyant has been visible in the past year, and in the Legislature often speaks of the engagement he’s had with those affected by the education budget.
Saskatchewan’s school divisions will receive $1.9 billion in operating funding for the 2019/2020 school year. The increase over last year’s spending is $26.2 million.
