Several of Saskatchewan’s new amalgamated school divisions are facing cuts in provincial funding, raising the possibility of property tax hikes to cover the shortfall.
School divisions got their first look at the numbers April 7, the day after finance minister Andrew Thomson announced his budget. Some of them learned they will get less money from the province this year than the former divisions they now comprise got last year.
South East Cornerstone School Division is getting a $5.3 million cut, which is 56 percent. The Chinook School Division, in the southwest, will get 47 percent less, which amounts to a $3.35 million cut. Moose Jaw-based Prairie South School Division is facing a 14 percent cut, for a reduction of more than $2.6 million.
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Learning minister Deb Higgins said the reductions occurred in the school divisions that absorbed the so-called zero grant boards. These were the divisions that had such high assessments that local property taxes covered the entire education bill.
The new divisions along the southern edge of the province, and some up the west side, are the ones seeing the grant reductions this year. Chinook, for example, absorbed three zero-grant boards. Declining enrolment is also a problem, since divisions receive grants on a per student basis.
“(Administrators) were quite aware that they would see significant changes,” Higgins said.
She also said people shouldn’t jump to the conclusion that property taxes will rise.
“We hope that they are vigilant in their budgeting,” she said. “When push comes to shove, we don’t have a great deal of authority over that end of it.”
But Rod Gantefoer, the Saskatchewan Party’s education critic, said school boards have to either cut spending or raise taxes. Finding expense reductions worth millions is likely not going to happen.
“Their choice is going to the property taxpayer for this money,” he said. “They have to balance their budgets, that’s a requirement.”
He said the reductions in education tax on farmland that were announced in March may not be as beneficial as some thought.
Gantefoer asked Higgins to table the school board foundation operating grants in the legislature “so people across this province will know the impact of their misguided amalgamation.”
The grants provided this year are for April 1 to March 31, 2007. However, school divisions are changing to an Aug. 31 year-end. Gantefoer said that means budget impacts will be felt more acutely next year.
School boards must set their mill rates by May 8.
