BSD getting 10% funding boost

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This article was published 02/02/2024 (1010 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon School Division is set to receive an 8.5 per cent funding increase in 2024 — 10 per cent if you include new nutrition funding, the provincial government announced Thursday.

The total boost comes to $6.8 million and is the third-highest percentage increase in the province.

The government is also promising to come back in a year with a new funding model for Manitoba schools, which it will implement in the 2025-26 school year.

Speaking to the media in Winnipeg, Education Minister Nello Altomare said Manitoba’s school boards will be allowed to raise taxes this year, a departure from the stance of the previous Progressive Conservative government.

“School divisions right now will be able to go to their local ratepayers and talk to them about their local levy,” Altomare said. “We trust school divisions to make their choices that will impact positively their community … They also know that they have a real partner in the province now that’s going to provide the funding that they need, so that when they do go to their ratepayers, they’re judicious in what they’re asking for.”

Brandon’s total school funding for the 2024-25 school year will be $74.2 million, plus an additional million dollars for the nutrition programming. Brandon’s funding boost in 2023 was at 6.3 per cent.

Only two other school divisions received higher percentage increases — the Kelsey School Division, based out of The Pas, with an 11.1 per cent increase, and the provincewide Division Scolaire Franco-Manitobaine, which operates francophone schools, at 10.9 per cent.

“Brandon has seen an increase in enrolment,” Altomare said about the BSD’s funding boost. “And Brandon doesn’t have the same assessment base that some of the urban school divisions have that they can draw upon. So what we’re going to do is use an equalization piece so they can get the support they need for their kids in our classroom.”

Funding increases, including nutrition funding, for other Westman school divisions include $200,000 (1.7 per cent) more for Southwest Horizon, $300,000 (3.8 per cent) for Turtle Mountain, $600,000 (5.9 per cent) for Fort La Bosse, $1 million (7.3 per cent) for Park West, $400,000 (3.3 per cent) for Rolling River and $1.4 million (8.4 per cent) for Beautiful Plains.

Manitoba’s overall funding increase for education is $104.2 million in 2024, of which $93.4 million will be directed to public schools and $10.8 million to private schools.

Of that total, $51.3 million will be directed toward school operations, a 5.3 per cent increase. Another $11.3 million will be used to service debts, a 7.3 per cent increase.

To cover mid-year enrolment increases, $6.2 million is being set aside to roll out to school divisions.

The final $30.5 million will be spent on new initiatives — $27.5 million toward the school nutrition program the government announced earlier this week and $3 million to help reduce class sizes in early years classes.

Altomare said the grades targeted for the class size reduction will be kindergarten through Grade 3.

Starting this year, the provincial government will require school divisions to publicly report their class sizes for kindergarten through Grade 8.

A format for these reports has yet to be determined, but Altomare said the website the Louis Riel School Division maintains listing enrolment numbers and average class sizes is one example of how it can be done.

Manitoba’s previous Progressive Conservative government started to eliminate education property taxes and said it was looking into a new funding model for education, but had not come forward with that model before losing last October’s election.

The new NDP government is now committing to announcing a new funding model a year from now and implementing it going into the 2025-26 school year.

In an online video conference, interim PC Leader Wayne Ewasko — who held the education portfolio under the previous government — called Thursday’s announcement “lacklustre and disappointing” after the criticism the NDP levied on last year’s funding figures, which he called the largest Manitoba had seen in more than 40 years.

In 2023, Ewasko said, his government had increased education funding by $100 million and spent an additional $106 million to make temporary increases from previous years permanent.

Responding to Thursday’s announcement, Ewasko said “basically 10 school divisions” and “a third of the school divisions” are looking at funding increases of less than one per cent this year.

According to figures released by the government, none of the province’s 37 school divisions is receiving an increase under 1.6 per cent if nutrition funding is included, and seven are receiving increases of less than one per cent if nutrition funding is excluded.

As for allowing divisions to raise taxes, Ewasko said it shows that Premier Wab Kinew, his government and Altomere have “absolutely no plan in regards to education” and “they’re not going to necessarily work with school divisions on how to make life more affordable by keeping taxes low.”

“What they’re doing is they’re verifying today that Manitobans should be braced for tax increases moving forward,” Ewasko said.

The opposition leader also said Thursday’s announcement did not address comments made by the NDP last year that they are reconsidering the construction of nine new schools through private-public partnerships. Kinew has previously said the Tories’ plan was not funded.

By text message, Brandon School Division board of trustees chair Linda Ross said she would feel more comfortable commenting on the funding announcement once she has more complete information.

In an email, Brandon School Division communications co-ordinator Terri Curtis said the division’s administration is still reviewing and analyzing the information provided by the province on Thursday.

“As there are numerous details to this funding announcement, additional time is needed before any interviews are conducted,” she wrote.

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