Saskatchewan school trustees say they need an extra $30 million next year to maintain the status quo.
Even that won’t be good enough, said Gary Shaddock, a Ponteix farmer acclaimed to his second term as president during the Saskatchewan School Trustees Association 85th annual convention last week.
“I can see next spring where (school) boards are going to be seriously up against it,” he said.
The provincial government wants to move away from reliance on property tax to fund education, but Shaddock said that money has to come from somewhere.
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federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
He said trustees are increasingly frustrated with the situation.
Buffalo Plains School Division trustee Alanna Koch told a session with provincial cabinet ministers that they must recognize the chronic financial pressure placed on school boards because the government does not adequately fund the system.
“Let’s talk about school boards having capital projects piling up, with buildings falling down around students due to disrepair and students falling out of the windows and doors due to overcrowding in some school divisions,” she said.
“Some divisions have been forced to go ahead with capital projects on their own. When will the government recommit funds to education to alleviate this situation?”
Education minister Jim Melenchuk replied that planning for the March 2001 budget is well under way.
Shaddock said committing a portion of the province’s recently announced surplus to education could have eased the capital-funding shortfall.
“Our children cannot be ignored anymore,” he said. “They cannot continue to hear that tax cuts are more important than they are. We say without apology that children are our most important investment.”
