Prairie South School Division has seen a record number of additional students enrol this year, which has prompted board trustees to release almost $600,000 in extra funding to hire more staff.
The board of education directed division administration during its Oct. 5 meeting to spend $577,818 from the unrestricted surplus account to hire 9.0 full-time equivalent (FTE) educational assistants and 3.0 FTE teachers to support the increased student population.
The division office had projected in the spring that PSSD would have 6,587.75 FTE students this year from pre-kindergarten to Grade 12. However, as of Sept. 30, there were 174.5 FTE extra students throughout its schools, increasing the overall total of 6,762.25 FTE.
As of Sept. 30, 2020, PSSD had 6,603.75 FTE students enrolled.
The division office uses a staffing formula that considers projected enrolments to figure out school-based staffing levels. The office also plans and budgets for a small contingency to respond to minor changes at schools and deal with minor changes in student populations.
“It’s an exciting time for us,” said education director Ryan Boughen during the meeting.
An increase of nearly 180 FTE students is great, but it created the challenge of having enough funding to hire additional staff, he continued. Further, division administration used all the available contingency funding, so it needed the board to release additional money.
This increase in students compares “very well” to previous years, although usually, the increases range from 20 to 40 pupils, Boughen said. He has worked for Prairie South since 2009 and has never seen an increase such as this.
“So, it’s really, really exciting,” he added.
According to business superintendent Ron Purdy, there should be roughly $20 million in the division’s unrestricted surplus account after this withdrawal is considered. At the end of last year, there was $15.6 million in that account.
This number is a defined amount and is likely based on the average salary costs of teachers and EAs, said trustee Shawn Davidson. However, he would be more comfortable rounding that number up to $600,000 to ensure administration did not need to come back because of cost overruns.
“We’ve got (nearly) 180 more students in our buildings than what we were projecting. That obviously requires some additional staff horsepower to provide those students with the support they need, and just a thought, that we may not want to handcuff you to $577,818,” he added.
Division administration is comfortable with that figure and believes it provides enough cushioning should there be cost overruns, said Boughen.
“I appreciate that the number isn’t a rounded-up number,” said trustee Crystal Froese. “It might be unrestricted surplus, but it also shows we’re trying to use taxpayers’ money to apply to the amount we actually need.”
Froese added that she hoped the provincial government took note of the enrolment increase because it funded school divisions based on numbers and growth.
The next PSSD board meeting is Tuesday, Nov. 2.
