The Holy Family Roman Catholic Separate School Division brought their board members to Estevan on the evening of April 10 to hold their regular open business session in the St. John the Baptist Parish Office conference room.
The trustees spent some time discussing their linkage plans as well as their budget and tax mill rates with assistant director of education Keith Thompson and finance superintendent Cal Martin.
Attempts to have a video and audio link via Skype with director of education Shelley Rowein, who was in Weyburn, were only semi-successful for the first half hour and then abandoned due to technical glitches.
During the course of the meeting, it was learned that another relocatable classroom for Sacred Heart/Sacre Coeur School in Estevan has been approved by the Ministry of Education.
An overflow situation existed in the school at the start of the academic year which led to the establishment of a temporary classroom in the library for senior French immersion students in Grades 7 and 8.
The first relocatable classroom was finally finished and put into service in early 2013 and the need for another one has now been identified.
Martin briefed the trustees on the upcoming 2013-14 budget which he said they should be able to scrutinize more carefully at their May meeting since a rough draft will be ready by then.
He noted there is an overall increase in funding of 2.1 per cent which should cover most of the inflationary increases over the next fiscal year, making it a status quo budget.
Following reassessment of properties across the province this past year, the majority will be seeing an increase in assessed values. The provincial government has reduced the 2013 education mill rate to lower the impact on property owners and therefore that impacted the education tax rate too since the provincial government now collects and disburses the money for kindergarten to Grade 12 educational systems based on a province-wide funding formula.
Martin and Thompson pointed out that depending on the amount of increase in assessment any particular property receives, some will be witnessing an increase and others might even see a decrease in property taxes. It will vary according to geographic areas and the types of properties. They noted, however, that assessment changes that would have resulted in higher or lower taxes being received by school boards under the old system doesn't apply now, so higher property taxes in Estevan or Weyburn, for instance, won't necessarily translate into more dollars for Holy Family or the South East Cornerstone Public School Division.
As trustee Greg Metz noted, "the winners in this formula will always be the depressed areas and we're not a depressed area."
Martin added, "The government took the tax collection capabilities away from us. We can collect $1 million more this year in property taxes, but we won't get to keep it."
Martin said his early preparation work for the budget shows an increase of $244,000 in the Holy Family budget compared with last year and the upcoming closure of St. Dominic School in Weyburn will potentially lead to a drop in funding, but there is a promise of some transitional financial assistance and acknowledgment that transportation and other subsidiary costs will increase. He added there is still no way to clearly predict what the funding will look like in years to come, with or without increases or decreases in assessments.
"Province-wide, they're trying to be neutral. In this area there will be about a 20 per cent increase in property taxes due to an increase in values and volume but unfortunately the extra money won't necessarily go to education," Martin said.
Trustee Jerome Sidlosky said "non-teaching salaries and transportation costs are constantly going up, so something's got to give."
Thompson said there are still variances of costs and expenses are going up all over and it would be nearly impossible for the provincial government to arrive at a point where they can find a neutral ground.
"Where is the average school division? We'll never get there," said one trustee.
Thompson said it is expected that the Saskatchewan School Boards Association will make that point quite clearly to the province.
"We must know the facts and how we're doing. We can issue a press release too," said Sidlosky.
On the subject of linkages, the trustees, under the direction of chairman Bruno Tuchscherer, discussed holding meetings or corresponding with, their traditional partners such as businesses that assign their property taxes to the Catholic system, city and town councils, MLAs, parents and priests.
Trustee Bev Hickie, when commenting on the communication with cities and towns, wondered out loud how interested the cities might be now that the school divisions can no longer collect taxes directly from them.
"I'm sure they like to know how you're spending the money and what you're doing. We need to encourage the discussion," said Thompson.
Last year, an invitation to Estevan's city council to send representatives to meet with the Holy Family board did not result in any communication hook up.
It was noted, however, the invitation was to meet with the board in Weyburn where most of the regular monthly meetings are held. This time around it was agreed that the Holy Family representatives would make the effort to attend a city council meeting and bring the councillors up-to-date on what was happening in the division.
The two Estevan representatives on the Holy Family board are Hickie and Karen Melle.
The trustees were also informed that school masses will be held May 4 and 5 to celebrate Catholic Education Week and information regarding those events has gone out to the priests and parents and can be found in the church bulletins.
The trustees also learned the provincial auditor is doing a study to determine common governance challenges for school divisions across the province, but so far the school divisions have not heard much about it even though the process is to be completed by the end of May.
The next general business meeting for the Holy Family board will be May 8 in their board office in Weyburn.
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