Board ends full-day kindergarten in $437-M budget
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/03/2022 (1690 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Manitoba’s largest school board will end full-day kindergarten and draw down its surplus to maintain all other programs and services next year.
The Winnipeg School Division’s board of trustees has approved a $437.1-million budget to operate its 78 schools, in which approximately 30,000 students study and 4,500 employees work, in 2022-23.
Board chairwoman Betty Edel said the division’s annual baseline funding has decreased by 1.3 per cent — or, $2.3 million — while the province continues to freeze its ability to increase the local property education tax.
“It’s just not sustainable, operating in a deficit and using surpluses,” Edel told the Free Press.
Manitoba has frozen property education taxes at 2020 levels and distributed one-time grants, each of which is the equivalent of a two per cent hike in fees, as it phases out the tax.
The province has also earmarked one-time disbursements to boards to address cost pressures, including staff wage settlements and COVID-19 expenses.
These allotments are not substitutes for stable funding because they do not allow boards to plan for the future, said Edel.
The board indicated Tuesday that one-time provincial grants, accessing its accumulated surplus and discontinuing full-day kindergarten at 11 schools have made it possible for WSD to maintain current offerings in 2022-23.
Edel noted some community members have raised concerns about the cancellation of full-time kindergarten.
“We were up front. We were truthful. We were honest,” she said, noting the board voted to discontinue the option in November 2021, after reviewing a study that found there has been little difference in academic achievement between graduates of full-time and part-time kindergarten in WSD over time.
The trustee indicated the board plans to assess its early childhood offerings and the future of such programs.
fpcity@freepress.mb.ca