The foundation statements for Mountain View School Division focus on the learner, the learning environment and on being a centre of educational excellence. It is critical, as we deliberate to assign available resources in the budget process, to make the difficult decisions that prioritize these focus areas.
“The decisions required to prepare and finalize the 2021-2022 Operating Budget are made more difficult as a succession of difficult budgets with greater limitations on available funding impact how we can address what our staff and our families are saying our schools need,” said Board Chairperson Floyd Martens.
Essentially, with the majority of available resources prescribed at the time of the provincial funding announcement, school divisions have worked hard to make the tough decisions on where resources are best served. These decisions have not been easy as any flexibility that existed in previous budgets has already been significantly reduced.
“We are confident in our budget decisions as they prioritize the needs of the learner and the classroom,” shared Martens.
Budget Overview
- Budget increase of $727,557 or 1.7%
- Total budget expenditure of $43,801,043
- Increase in provincial funding from the 2020-21 Budget of $751,092 or 2.8%
- Municipal revenue changes offset by Property Tax Offset funding
- Revenue from all other sources decreased $23,535 or 0.15%
Local Taxation Impact
- Property assessments across the division increased 0.7% on average
- Special Levy remains unchanged and Mill Rate reduced .11 mills to 14.62 mills
Budget Focus Areas
- $909,300 in increased expenditures allocated to staffing
- A 1.0 FTE teacher – reduced from holdback - not from current staffing
- Maintaining all other front-line staffing levels
- $181,742 in reduced expenditures for non-salary related budgets including technology, international student program and interest expense. Some increases required with fuel and utility costs that are included in the overall expenditure reduction
- Achieved a status quo budget resulting in no significant change to programs and services
All school divisions have been directed to comply with administrative cost expectations and Mountain View School Division remains 5% below the administrative cap identified for our division.
We welcome feedback on our budget decisions and questions or comments can be directed to the Board chairperson or division senior administration.
For further information contact:
Floyd Martens, Board Chairperson Bart Michaleski, Secretary-Treasurer
Phone: 1-204-638-3001