Since it does not receive enough money from the Ministry of Education, Prairie South School Division will run a deficit next year to ensure it has the necessary staffing levels.
Based on the most available data, during the 2018-19 school year, Prairie South School Division (PSSD) had revenues of $83.3 million and expenses of $87.6 million. Under expenses, the instruction category — composed of salaries of teachers and employees — was $57.5 million.
The budget required for minimum staffing levels for the 2020-21 school year is $64.9 million, or an increase of $1.47 million from the current year, according to a board of education report.
The Ministry of Education will provide $833,000 in grants to cover part of the increase. About $780,000 is for teachers’ salaries through the collective bargaining agreement, a two-per-cent increase in the cost of living allowance (COLA) for teachers, and an extra $53,000 for PSSD’s budget.
PSSD will have to — and is preparing to — cover the remaining deficit of about $700,000 for the upcoming school year.
The board of education discussed the issue during its most recent meeting.
“This year (2020-21) in particular is going to be quite challenging as we staff schools, as we’re going to have an extra month in hand if this (motion) passes,” said education director Tony Baldwin.
The document presented to trustees breaks down staffing levels by area, he continued. Staffing allocations will be roughly the same next year as they were this year. Division administration expects there to be minimal growth in the student population.
Within the $1.47 million salary increase is a two-per-cent increase in COLA for teachers and a 1.5-per-cent COLA increase for CUPE and out-of-scope employees. Two teachers will also be hired.
Conducting budget matters in increments is irresponsible and the wrong move, said trustee Brian Swanson. He believed approving staffing levels before the final budget was completed was “particularly dangerous when you’re operating in the red in deficits.” Trustees have also been told they might receive less money in preventative maintenance and renewal (PMR) for buildings, so PSSD could face a deficit of more than $1 million.
It might be status quo with staffing, but the budget is not status quo and the division is not receiving extra funding for operations, Swanson continued. PSSD has less purchasing power than last year, so he didn’t think the board should be “biting off a huge chunk of the budget” with staffing without knowing how the rest of the budget will look.
Swanson attempted to have the matter tabled until the 2020-21 budget finalization meeting, but that motion was defeated.
Staffing makes up about 80 per cent Prairie South’s budget, said trustee Shawn Davidson. It’s important to get ahead of this issue since there are 26 other school divisions in Saskatchewan — and hundreds across Canada — competing for the same top educators. This move also reassures staff that the division is not making major cutbacks in personnel.
The board has put millions of dollars in reserves over the years through aggressive budgeting, Davidson said. That has given trustees the ability to consider deficit budgeting.
“It is definitely a rainy day,” he added, “and it is appropriate entirely to use up some of those reserves.”
One issue with staffing levels each year is the number of people who retire, said trustee Lew Young. He wondered how many employees had decided to retire this year.
There are about 12 teachers who will retire this year, said Diana Welter, superintendent of human resources. However, she didn’t have the data about how many support staff were retiring and would have to find out.
PSSD already plans to add 2.1 full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers for next year, said Baldwin. But it might have to add more educators to replace those who are retiring.
