REGINA – The Ile-a-la Crosse School Division Board of Education has received the 2023 Premier’s Board of Education Award for Innovation and Excellence in Education for its “Historic Submission for the First Indigenous controlled Board of Education in Saskatchewan: Ile-a-la Crosse Northern School Administration Area No. 1 formed by Minister’s order May 6, 1974”.

The Saskatchewan School Boards Association (SSBA) co-ordinates the Premier’s Award each year. The award was presented on behalf of Premier Scott Moe during the SSBA’s Annual General Assembly on Monday.

“The Government of Saskatchewan is pleased to recognize Ile-a-la Crosse School Division Board of Education as this year’s award winner,” Minister of Education Jeremy Cockrill said on behalf of Premier Scott Moe. “The formation of the board in 1974 was a profound moment in Saskatchewan’s history and one that has had lasting positive impacts on northern students, families, and communities.”

In its application for the award, Ile-a-la Crosse said of its submission: “Ile-a-la Crosse Northern School Administration Area No. 1 was formed by Minister’s order May 6, 1974. The school board made decisions about the construction of the new school, which was designed by Metis architect Douglas Cardinal. They hired 21 new teachers that first year with only 1 teacher remaining from the previous year. No longer was it forbidden to speak Cree at school and resources with racist ideas were weeded out. By January 1, 1975, all assets of the school division were controlled by the new board. This was the first-time Indigenous people were making decisions about who would teach their child and administer the school, the responsiveness of school, the school’s awareness of colonization and oppression and most people were enthusiastic. Ile-a-la Crosse Temporary Education Committee and the subsequent elected Board of Education were the first Indigenous controlled boards of education in Saskatchewan.”

“We are proud of the history of our division,” said Board Chair Duane Favel. “Those leaders of our temporary education committee and our first board had the right ideas. Honouring our culture and language, having teachers involved in our community and empowering our parents to be involved in education are still goals we hold onto. It is because of their vision and our 50 years of being an Indigenous-run school board that we have had our successes.”

Xerox Canada has sponsored this award since its development in 1999 and increased the prize amount to $5,000 this year. The award recipient is recommended by a panel of education sector partners. Xerox is pleased to continue the long-standing partnership with the SSBA through the sponsorship of the Premier’s Award.

“For more than 100 years, Xerox has continually redefined the workplace experience” said John Brightwell, Vice-President Channel Sales. “Today, Xerox is continuing its legacy of innovation to deliver client-centric and digitally-driven technology solutions to schools all over North America. It is a great honour to be once again associated with the prestigious Premier’s Award for Innovation and Excellence in Education. Congratulations to the Ile-a-la Crosse School Board on behalf of Xerox Canada.”

To view a video about the award recipients, please visit: https://youtu.be/bSwl1dh3jyQ.

At its assembly, the SSBA also recognized:

• Award of Distinction – Lois Smandych (Good Spirit School Division)
• Life Membership – Janet Kotylak (Prairie Valley School Division)
• Honorary Life Membership – Kelly Berlinic (in recognition of her work supporting school nutrition)
• Degree Program Scholarship sponsored by Aon – AbdurRahman Khawaja (Regina Public)
• Technical/Trades Program Scholarship sponsored by Manulife – Mackenzie Miller (South East Cornerstone)

REGINA – Together with communities across the country, school boards throughout the province will again officially recognize “Orange Shirt Day” on Saturday, Sept. 30, as requested annually by the Saskatchewan School Boards Association (SSBA).

Sept. 30 has also been proclaimed federally in Canada as National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

“On behalf of our 27 member boards of education, the SSBA is encouraging school communities, and all residents of the province, to participate in Orange Shirt Day by wearing orange and taking the time to reflect on the history and harmful legacy of residential schools,” said Jaimie Smith-Windsor, president of the SSBA. “This day represents an opportunity to expand our understandings and commit to growing together and toward reconciliation.”

Orange Shirt Day is part of a larger movement in the country to provide opportunity to unite in a spirit of reconciliation and hope for our future generations.

This day was first proclaimed in Saskatchewan in 2016 and the Government of Saskatchewan proclaims the day every year at the request of the SSBA.

REGINA – Ten schools in Saskatchewan will each receive a $15,000 grant to support student nutrition after being selected to win this year’s Mosaic School Nutrition Challenge.

The Mosaic School Nutrition Challenge has reached 103 Saskatchewan schools to date, and every year, more and more applications come in,” said Sarah Fedorchuk, Mosaic’s Vice President Government & Public Affairs – North America. “For 2023, we increased project funding to $15,000 from $10,000 to reflect rising costs and greater needs. Each of these 10 impactful projects will create healthier school nutrition environments for kids across the province for years to come.”

The grants will support winning projects that have goals including implementing or expanding nutrition programs, enhancing kitchen and garden facilities, increasing educational opportunities for students and families and supporting reconciliation and cultural projects.

Schools from across the province submitted their projects to compete for the total of $150,000 in prizes, provided by Mosaic. Schools receiving grants this year are governed by the Greater Saskatoon Catholic, Living Sky, North East, Northwest, Northern Lights, Prairie Valley, Prairie South and Saskatchewan Rivers school boards and the Battlefords First Nation High School Joint Board of Education.

To encourage grassroots initiatives to help improve student nutrition, this program, formerly known as the Mosaic Extreme School Makeover Challenge, began in 2006.

“We are very thankful for Mosaic’s longstanding dedication to this program, now in its 17th year,” said Jaimie Smith-Windsor, president of the SSBA. “We want to make particular note of our gratitude for the new funding amount of $15,000 per school that Mosaic put in place starting this year.”

Backgrounder: Mosaic School Nutrition Challenge 2023 Recipients

SASKATOON – The education funding allocated in last month’s 2023-24 provincial budget will not be enough to maintain the current operations of Saskatchewan’s 27 school boards, which are now uncovering the local financial implications.

“The reality of this budget is becoming much more alarming as the detailed analysis happens,” said Jaimie Smith-Windsor, president of the Saskatchewan School Boards Association (SSBA), a non-partisan organization representing all boards in the province. “The funding for school operations falls short on many fronts.”

Furthermore, the way the government presented the numbers on budget day is misleading to the public, said Smith-Windsor. The $49.4 million, or 2.5 per cent, operating-grant increase announced in March was a comparison to 2022-23 budget-day figures, not to the actual amount divisions received last year.

At least $35.5 million of that is not actually new. That includes $20 million allocated in July 2022 for inflationary increases that was included in school divisions’ 2022-23 budgets, as well as $15.5 million provided in December for enrolment increases that had exceeded projections by 3,840 students.

“It is an irresponsible misrepresentation to frame these dollars announced last year as being part of an increase,” said Smith-Windsor. “The funding of education with public money should, at the very least, be transparent and easily understood, whether the news is good or bad. The public needs to be engaged in the bigger conversation about the value of education and the investment we put into it.”

The remaining $13.9 million equals an increase of just 0.7 per cent for 2023-24. This falls short of what is needed to maintain the status quo, with boards facing increasing costs in many areas.

These include support staff collective agreements; teacher salary increments and local agreement costs; statutory benefit increases and other payroll-related costs; and fuel, insurance and utility increases. Additional factors include other general inflation, unprecedented enrolment growth and the continuing need for specialized programming.

Preliminary estimates suggest funding shortfalls will be of a magnitude of multiple tens of millions. In the coming weeks, school boards need to consider options that might include staffing and programming cuts.

“Boards have been advocating for adequate and sustainable funding for a long time and our ability to deliver services to students has been eroded in recent years,” said Smith-Windsor. “With significant surplus revenues and the development of a new Provincial Education Plan, boards expected better investment in Saskatchewan’s future from this budget.”

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.

REGINA – The Mosaic School Nutrition Challenge is celebrating a new funding amount of $15,000 per school for 2023 – 10 schools will be selected to receive funding and a record total of $150,000 will be provided this year to encourage grassroots, local initiatives that promote student nutrition and healthier school environments.

“The Mosaic School Nutrition Challenge is an amazing partnership that has been in place for 17 years to support nutritional opportunities for students in our province,” said Jaimie Smith-Windsor, president of the Saskatchewan School Boards Association, which has administered the program in partnership with Mosaic since its inception. “We’re grateful to Mosaic for this longstanding and continued dedication to improving school nutrition environments.”

Since 2006, 93 schools have received funding to support improvements, which have included implementing or expanding nutrition programs, enhancing kitchen and garden facilities, increasing educational opportunities for students and families and supporting reconciliation and cultural projects.

“We are proud to increase our level of support for the Mosaic School Nutrition Challenge,” said Sarah Fedorchuk, Mosaic’s Vice President of Government & Public Affairs. “Over the past 17 years, the winning schools have used the funds to create healthier school environments, and we can’t wait to see what this year’s winners can achieve with $15,000.”

The 2023 Mosaic School Nutrition Challenge is now accepting applications and all schools across the province are encouraged to participate.

Download the application here:
https://saskschoolboards.ca/partner-organizations/mosaic-school-nutrition-challenge/

And check out a video about last year’s recipients’ here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22rwncFAclU