REGINA – The Saskatchewan School Boards Association (SSBA) recognizes the small increase in funding for the school system in today’s provincial budget, but cautions that the increase falls short of covering pressures due to inflation and enrolment growth.
“The operating increase announced in the 2023-24 budget does not cover the expenses that school divisions are facing,” said Jaimie Smith-Windsor, president of the SSBA. “This budget contributes to the existing instability and continuing erosion of the publicly funded education system and school boards are increasingly concerned about that.”
Boards have worked hard to keep up with the pressures of inflation and enrolment growth – but when the operational funding doesn’t cover the actual costs, the funding isn’t there to pay for any investment in achieving high-quality outcomes for students.
“We have been advocating for adequate and sustainable operational funding for quite some time and we have noticed that the ability of boards to deliver services to students has been eroded over the last several years,” Smith-Windsor said. “School boards are facing uncertainty and may have difficult decisions to make, once again.”
As school divisions receive their operational budget details through the education funding distribution model, they will have a better sense of the local budget response and circumstances, which might vary among regions, she noted.
School boards recognize this year’s funding for capital projects, though inflation has caused challenges and uncertainty related to those initiatives, as well. School boards also continue to advocate for strategic co-ordination with the Ministry of Health on mental health and wellness initiatives and welcome some ongoing dollars for that.