Portage school division proposes significant mill rate hike
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The Portage la Prairie School Division is proposing a 10.97 per cent increase to the local mill rate as it deals with $4-million in mandated salary and benefit costs.
Superintendent Pam Garnham unveiled the $58.3-million draft budget during a public presentation Wednesday, February 26 at Portage Collegiate Institute (PCI). The increase translates to approximately $160 more per year for a home valued at $250,000, while a farm valued at $1 million would see an increase of roughly $370.
Garnham said the hike is largely driven by a new provincial collective agreement that harmonizes teacher salaries across Manitoba.
“We had to budget over $4 million for salary increases, benefit increases, and payroll tax increases,” Garnham said in a recent interview. “We want to maintain our staff. Our board made a very strong decision that they were not going to cut staff, because the staff need to be in the classrooms with the kids.”
The division is currently managing a student population of 3,531, supported by nearly 600 full-time equivalent staff. Garnham noted that enrollment continues to grow, with 181 kindergarten students already registered for the upcoming fall. The surge that has already necessitated splitting classes in the French Immersion program and at Oakville School.
Despite the tax increase, the division remains focused on its core priorities: literacy, numeracy, Indigenous academic achievement, and student well-being. Recent capital investments highlighted in the budget include a five-year plan for washroom upgrades across elementary schools, new gender-inclusive facilities at PCI, and the installation of exterior blinds at all schools to improve energy efficiency.
Technology also remains a priority, with the division connecting remote Hutterite colonies via high-speed satellite and upgrading computer science hardware. Notably, Garnham pointed out that while instructional spending remains above the provincial average, administrative costs are nearly one per cent lower than the average.
“We’re not spending the money on administration,” she said. “We’re spending the money where we need to spend it for kids.”
The province has confirmed that an educational property tax rebate will be applied directly to tax bills this year to help offset the local increase.