A coalition of seven school and business organizations has sent a letter to the Saskatchewan government asking for more money for kindergarten to Grade 12 education.
They weren’t prepared to tell the government how it should get the money, said Lance Bean, spokesperson for the group.
“It’s time for them to take responsibility,” said Bean, president of the Saskatchewan School Boards Association. He noted the recent provincial budget raised the provincial sales tax one percent, but that money will go into the province’s general revenue and be spent mainly on health.
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The coalition’s April 15 letter pointed out that a commission chaired by Ray Boughen had reported to the provincial government in December 2003, saying the province needed to pay more of the education costs to ease the burden on people who pay property tax. The commission said education tax on farmland paid $160 million of the $646 million raised from property in 2001. Boughen had suggested raising the PST and broadening it to cover restaurant meals to get the funding for schools.
Property tax covers 60 percent of Saskatchewan school costs, while the provincial government pays 40 percent. Bean noted that was the highest property tax percentage of all provinces. Manitoba is second highest where property tax covers 40 percent of the school cost while the government covers 60 percent.
Saskatchewan learning minister Andrew Thomson has said the government doesn’t have enough money to pay more for education. He said the priorities are health and agriculture.
Coalition member Ray Kopera, president of the Saskatchewan Association of School Business Officials, refused to endorse suggestions that people should protest by refusing to pay their education taxes. He said that would be counterproductive and narrow-minded.
“You’d only be hurting your own children.”
Coalition members also rejected cutting school board budgets or amalgamating more divisions to save money. Saskatchewan has 82 school divisions compared to Manitoba’s 40 and Alberta’s 60.
Bean said Saskatchewan spends the least amount per student of anywhere in North America other than the Maritimes.
Norm Dray, of the League of Educational Administrators, Directors and Superintendents, said the people who serve on school boards “are under enormous pressure from friends and family. It’s tough to be a trustee in Saskatchewan.”
