The ask is big.
For the Province of Manitoba, the second largest portfolio in terms of budgeting is Education. With the exception of Health Care, Education consumes the second largest investment for any government in Canada. It makes sense.
Placing a high priority on equipping our children for their and our future is understandable. We want the succeeding generation to have success. For that to occur, we as a society need to do what we can to help make it possible. It also makes sense because education is people-intensive.
You need people to ensure students make it to school, have a clean environment to work in, and are instructed effectively so they have the best opportunities possible to learn, regardless of their individual circumstances.
For our province with a $19 billion annual budget, about one-third of that is invested in health care, and depending on what is or is not included, roughly 12-15% goes to the K-12 system.
It is a large investment to support the education of our students.
Yet, as we are all readily aware, inflationary pressures in everything from the areas you would expect (utilities, fuel, etc.) to those you might not expect (interest costs with rising interest rates) are creating a strain on resources. Recent reporting indicated that only 25% of school divisions received increases in funding over the last ten years when adjusted for inflation. Mountain View has seen an 11% reduction during the last decade when inflation is factored in. As a result, there is a significant “ask” as school divisions prepare their budgets for the 2023-24 school year.
It was anticipated that a new funding model would be released this year. When it was announced in December that the new model would be delayed and the existing, outdated model would once again be used for this budget, it left further questions in addressing the educational investments required. While this is not ideal, we will work with a model we know for hopefully one more year.
Prior to last week’s funding announcement, the requests presented to the government were specific. You can find a submission by the Manitoba School Boards Association at: http://schoolbudget.ca.
In essence, the “ask” in the eight recommendations was to put enough resources into the system so at the very least, there would be enough support to address the current needs and pressures on school divisions. Catching up to these inflationary pressures alone is significant.
With only a few days to digest the announcement that took place Thursday, defining the announcement as adequate or responsive will depend on what the local school division’s situation is.
For Mountain View, we are working on maintaining a status quo budget for 2023-24, given these uncertainties and pressures. We are continuing to work through a draft budget and now with the announcement, will be examining the full impact it will have on our operations this next year.
At the end of February or early March (the date will be determined shortly), there will be a public consultation meeting to walk through a draft budget for next year. We look forward to your involvement as we manage the priorities of our division to assist students in their learning. Whether there will be adequate resources to do that remains to be seen.
What will remain is the commitment of your local Board to attempt to balance the needs of all of our students from all of our communities and provide the best possible learning experience. However, to do that effectively will require your input.