BSD class sizes likely to grow

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This article was published 28/02/2025 (325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The size of classrooms in Brandon are set to swell in September as the school division braces with a tighter than expected budget.

Brandon School Division Board chair Linda Ross told the Sun on Thursday that Grade 4 to Grade 12 classrooms are set to take on more students at the outset of the next school year. The division plans to accommodate a growing student population by dispersing students into bigger classes.

High school classrooms are expected to grow the most across the Brandon School Division. The board chair said the classrooms are set to increase from 19 students to 23 students on average.

The division expects about 200 new students, according to a release sent to the Sun on Thursday, and it also indicated its staff will grow by roughly 11 full-time equivalent teaching positions across the division. However, due to the tighter than expected budget, plans for a further 15 full-time equivalent teachers were scrapped — 10 for high school, and five for Grades 4-8.

Brandon Teachers Association president Tammy Tutkaluk said there are concerns about how the budget result for next year will impact lessons.

“If you have a class size of 25 students, it increases opportunities for interpersonal conflict within the classroom,” said Tutkaluk. “So then there’s more times where you’re going to have to deal with classroom management instead of teaching the lesson of the day.”

The association president added that time is on the chopping block as well. Teachers will have less time for one-on-one with students, and that can mean that students’ individual needs receive less attention.

“Every pupil that you add to a classroom adds more marking, it adds more report cards, it adds more meetings, it adds more time that needs to be spent with the child … It’s going to mean more communication with families. We teachers don’t just meet once or twice a year with parents, there’s ongoing communication all the time.”

Education Minister Tracy Schmidt told the Sun on Thursday that Brandon received a higher-than-average increase in funding compared to other school divisions. For the 2025-26 year, the increase was about 4.5 per cent for Brandon, compared to an average of 3.4 per cent across the province.

She said the increase was above inflation, and that after consideration the province decided it was a healthy increase.

“We believe that that funding amount is something that is predictable and it’s sustainable for the school division,” said Schmidt. “That being said, we’re happy to work with (the division) to make sure that they’re meeting the needs of their community and their students.”

Schmidt said she understands that school divisions, particularly Brandon, are facing a need to accommodate a growing student population. She said the province invests in small class sizes at about $3 million a year across Manitoba to allow schools to hire more staff and provide more one-on-one class time with students.

In Brandon, Ross told the Sun that mandatory subjects like high school English are likely to swell larger than the average of 23 students because the class is mandatory. On the other side of the coin, she said, classes like shop with safety limits on the number of students, or electives like physics, may stay below average.

A smaller growth is expected for younger students in Brandon schools. Between Grade 4 and Grade 8, the class sizes are expected to increase from an average of roughly 22 to 23 students. There will be no change expected between kindergarten to Grade 3.

Ross told the Sun the school board protected the younger years as a priority. She said this follows research that shows students benefit the most from small class sizes during early years.

Brandon School Division trustees approved a 6.78 per cent property tax increase on Wednesday to fund the division budget. Ross attributed the increase in property tax to contractual obligations and salary increases from collective bargaining agreements. She told the Sun on Thursday that 86 per cent of the budget for Brandon School Division is tied to payroll.

» cmcdowell@brandonsun.com