Brandon School Division secures $56M for academic year

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This article was published 04/02/2022 (1369 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The province is setting aside $56.7 million in funding for the Brandon School Division’s 2022-23 academic year, which includes a $900,000 property tax offset grant.

This is part of the government’s larger plan to invest a grand total of $1.62 billion in Manitoba public and private schools across the board, marking a $120.4 million total increase in funding over the previous year.

This means BSD officials will receive a $500,000 jump in funding overall.

Newly-minted Education Minister Wayne Ewasko made the announcement Friday morning from BSD headquarters, mentioning that public schools specifically will receive an $18 million (or 1.34 per cent) boost over what was on the table for 2021-22.

“This incremental funding is based on feedback [we received] from school divisions on their anticipated incremental costs over and above regular annual increases in funding,” Ewasko said during a virtual news conference.

“These increases will ensure that school divisions have the resources they need to help students succeed regardless of where they live, their backgrounds or their individual circumstances.”

Ewasko went on to explain the $120.4 million increase includes $77 million in one-time funding that is designed to address incremental wage costs and other pressures that school divisions are facing right now.

The Lac du Bonnet MLA told the Sun directly this one-time payment, alongside increasing the property tax offset grant by $23.2 million, is also meant to compensate for the fact the province is freezing education property taxes for the second year in a row.

After all, freezing every school division’s ability to collect property taxes wreaked havoc on the BSD’s budgeting process last year, since the board of trustees was already facing a major financial shortfall before this source of revenue was removed.

Because of this, and a variety of other factors, the board was forced to remove three full-time equivalent positions and reduce another $445,100 worth of line items to balance the 2021-22 budget.

“While these financial pressures faced by school divisions are ongoing, we’re only announcing one-time funding this year,” Ewasko said. “A new education funding model is being developed in consultation with school divisions for the 2022-23 school year and base funding will be adjusted in 2023-24 according to the new funding model.”

During Friday’s news conference, the education minister was also asked about how the 1.34 per cent increase in annual funding for public schools can make up for the roughly five per cent inflation rate that Manitoba is currently contending with.

Ewasko responded by stating the 1.34 per cent increase is actually much higher if one were to factor in the $77 million one-time payment and the beefed-up property tax offset grant.

However, Manitoba Teachers’ Society president James Bedford remains unconvinced and said in a Friday afternoon news release that next year’s increase in operating revenue needs to be around three per cent in order to “ensure resources per student are maintained.”

“This means the public education system is losing ground on a per pupil basis,” Bedford said.

“Today’s funding announcement will not stop the inequities that continue to grow unchecked in our public education system.”

Meanwhile, BSD secretary-treasurer Denis Labossiere and Supt. Mathew Gustafson were reluctant to comment on the province’s funding announcement as of early Friday afternoon, since they haven’t had enough time to crunch the numbers and figure out how this will fit into the division’s 2022-23 operating budget.

“So, it’s a first step and we’re always anxious to be able to get working on [the budget], because there is a timeline to keep everything moving for preparation for next year,” Gustafson said.

BSD officials are expected to hold their first major 2022-23 budget presentation on Feb. 17 at 7 p.m., with a public deliberation period to follow on the morning of Feb. 22.

Following one last public consultation/presentation on Feb. 28, starting at 7 p.m., the BSD board of trustees is scheduled to approve the 2022-23 operating budget on March 7.

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