At its June regular meeting, the Prairie Valley Board of Education approved the 2019-2020 school year budget.
“The provincial budget was not the investment in education the Board had hoped for,” said Board Chair Janet Kotylak. “While we have done our best to sustain front-line services and practices, funding levels for next year required some difficult decisions.”
For Prairie Valley School Division, 2019-2020 operating grants will be $91.37M, an increase of $250K (0.3%) over the 2018-2019 budget. With a small enrolment increase and higher operating costs anticipated, the result was a challenging budget scenario that required targeted reductions, directly impacting school operations for the first time in several years.
“When preparing the 2019-2020 budget, the Board’s focus was on front line service delivery and ensuring the Division is able to keep great people in front of students while supporting them in their roles,” Kotylak said. “Ensuring we are able to maintain the reduced pupil-teacher ratio for Grades 1 to 3 achieved this year was a priority.”
While the pupil-teacher ratio was sustained, the school impacts include a 5 per cent reduction to decentralized budgets and 5.4 FTE fewer intervention support teaching positions. Central operating reduction include reducing staff costs through attrition and holding positions vacant, reductions in bus fleet renewal and savings in transportation operations.
Total staff FTE will remain constant with 2018-2019 and all continuing teachers are placed for fall 2019.
“I’m proud to say that Prairie Valley School Division is able to continue delivering high quality education opportunities to its students, despite challenging financial circumstances,” said Luc Lerminiaux, Director of Education for Prairie Valley School Division. “Despite consistently doing more with less, Prairie Valley School Division has found success thanks to a continued focus on people.”
Funding for Preventive Maintenance and Renewal increased to $2.46M, which is an additional $302K (15%) to direct toward building improvements. “This is a welcome investment in facilities that will help us work toward modern, functional teaching and learning environments in all of our schools,” Lerminiaux said.
Overall, Prairie Valley’s 2019-2020 budget is balanced on a cash basis, with an operating deficit of $4.2M due to amortization of capital assets.
Prairie Valley School Division serves 8,500 students in 39 schools throughout southeast Saskatchewan. In support of the vision “Leadership in Learning and Life”, the Division offers high-quality education that provides students with the tools to reach their potential.
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