The Ministry of Education has provided Holy Trinity Catholic School Division with almost $500,000 more in funding to reflect the division’s nearly three-per-cent increase in enrolment.
The ministry recently announced that it would distribute $15.5 million across the 27 school divisions because of the largest province-wide enrolment increase in over 20 years. There were 179,699 students enrolled as of Sept. 30, which was 4,201 more — an increase of 2.39 per cent — compared to last year.
The Creighton School Division — northeast of Nipawin — had the highest enrolment increase at 7.5 per cent, while Ile a la Cross School Division in northern Saskatchewan had the largest decrease at 5.9 per cent.
Holy Trinity’s 2.95-per-cent enrolment increase — 93 more students, to 2,345 pupils — was the eighth highest, which prompted the province to increase the division’s funding by 1.9 per cent or $474,874. That grant money increases the expense budget for 2022-23 to $25,081,297 from $24,606,423.
In comparison, enrolment decreased by three per cent during the 2021-22 year, resulting in a funding decrease of one per cent.
The finalized funding amount the province provided Holy Trinity this year is equivalent to $11,514.49 per student.
There were several expense areas in the division’s budget that were affected by this increase, CFO Curt Van Parys explained during Holy Trinity’s recent board meeting.
Governance increased by $1,104 (0.8 per cent) to $142,585.
Administration jumped by $21,273 (1.8 per cent) to $1,218,720.
Base instruction rose by $343,248 (2.9 per cent) to $11,993,690.
School-based supports jumped by $16,368 (1.4 per cent) to $1,194,684.
Learning supports increased by $68,631 (2.2 per cent) to $3,189,908.
Instructional resources rose by $23,460 (1.7 per cent) to $1,405,753.
Van Parys had expected the division’s total funding increase to be 1.2 per cent or 1.25 per cent based on past enrolment data and related funding. However, he believes the 1.9-per-cent increase is because the province put more money into the funding pool instead of redistributing that pool.
“So that decision definitely — in terms of financial impact — has been quite positive for us. Without that, we likely would have had a funding increase of approximately $300,000,” he said, adding the extra money is good news.
Van Parys planned to bring a proposed budget amendment — reflecting the extra funding and other adjustments — to the board for review and approval in January or February. He added that the division has added more teaching positions because of the “very healthy student enrolment increase,” while other budget areas have also increased.
Holy Trinity has very little financial contingency or “wiggle room” in its budget this year, said trustee Derek Hassen. He wondered whether the division office could manage the inflationary pressures since it has been an issue this year.
Division administration asked its managers to “eat” the inflation-related increases, replied Van Parys. The province announced recently that Consumer Price Index (CPI) had jumped eight per cent year-over-year, which was a substantial amount that the managers had to handle.
There is the feeling that the plan to handle inflation in the buildings and operations areas is not working, he added. He planned to factor in the funding increase and other expense hikes when he presented the updated budget to make it more manageable.
The next Holy Trinity board meeting is Monday, Jan. 16.
