‘Increasingly difficult decisions’: Seven Oaks division tables 2020-21 budget
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/02/2020 (1494 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Bus subsidies will be axed, summer programs reduced, and classroom sizes stretched in the Seven Oaks School Division, if its proposed 2020-21 budget is approved as is.
On Monday night, the northwest Winnipeg school division tabled the budget, which would result in property tax on the average house in its region valued at $305,000 dropping by $3.
The province has asked divisions not to hike their special requirement, which affects property taxes, by more than two per cent. Despite Seven Oaks increasing the requirement by the maximum allowable, homeowners will not see their bills increase.
However, superintendent Brian O’Leary said residents can expect changes to school programs, transportation, class sizes, course offerings and student support.
“We continue to be challenged by little or no increases in provincial funding and continued enrolment growth and unfair funding, we will face increasingly difficult decisions,” O’Leary told a crowd gathered for public budget consultations Monday night at the Seven Oaks Performing Arts Centre.
Seven Oaks’ overall expenses are expected to increase 1.3 per cent next year — a hike that can be attributed to wage increases, utility costs, a “modest” increase in occupational and physical therapy services, and five additional full-time teaching positions.
The board cited additional expenses attached to the price tag of opening École Templeton in the fall and enrolment projected to rise by two per cent (250 students).
Among the budget proposals: charging parents for the transportation of students in Kindergarten to Grade 3 who live between 1.2 and 1.6 kilometres from their school, and freezing educational assistant staffing levels.
Also being considered is turning four management positions into service roles to achieve the province’s directive to reduce management by 15 per cent.
On Monday, O’Leary reiterated his long-time concern about the way property education taxes work in the province, a model he said produces great funding disparities, depending on the value of commercial properties in divisions.
“They have Ikea, we have Dollarama — and there’s a difference between the tax bills paid for those two things,” he said.
maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca
Twitter: @macintoshmaggie
Maggie Macintosh
Reporter
Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Winnipeg Free Press. Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative.
History
Updated on Tuesday, February 25, 2020 8:32 PM CST: Fixes typo.