Thread by @zakvescera

The premier and school divisions are doing that thing where they blame each other for cuts and parent fees

Here's a thread on why your school division is likely doing this that nobody asked for on a Saturday #skpoli

thestarphoenix.com/news/saskatche…

Saskatoon Public Schools made headlines when it said it would introduce a $100 lunchtime supervision fee to cover a $4.5 million deficit (something their Regina counterpart has done for years). They say it's because funding isn't keeping up with costs

thestarphoenix.com/news/local-new…

Government's line is: hey, you don't need to do that, you have lots of money. Many school divisions racked up millions in reserve cash, especially in the early 2010s when funding was abundant. Moe said it's not fair to invoice parents before using that $

thestarphoenix.com/news/saskatche…

And here's the thing: there are quite a few school divisions that have lots of money tucked away. But many don't. They've already burnt through it to make up shortfalls in previous budgets. Look at this chart from SPS. If you discount the blip of COVID funding, it's a clear trend

Now here's where it gets even more complicated. See that red line? That's the surplus SPS can actually spend on whatever it wants. Other cash is tied up in specific projects. So even if they burned all their cash, wouldn't cover a $4.5 million deficit

Now let's make it even more complicated. School boards get a stream of funding over 12 months. But they spend most of it in the academic year. So Aug. 31 — when these statements go out — is when they actually have the *most* money on hand, according to SSBA Pres. Shawn Davidson

Davidson said there's also a danger to chewing through reserves. No reserves could mean borrowing during the school year. Borrowing could mean interest. Interest means less money making it to students. You get the gist.

Education minister Dustin Duncan pointed out to me earlier this week that no one would accuse government of "overfunding" education in the early 2010s, when school boards grew their reserves. And he's right. A lot of boards used that money to hire new specialists in schools...

Think speech pathologists, educational psychologists, etc.

Now, those positions are getting eliminated. Here's another graph from SPS, showing what funding would be per student if it was tied to inflation versus what it is this year

Government has talked about record funding this year. Almost every year is record funding for everything. That's how inflation works. Boards say most of the boost they did get goes to teacher salary increases — something gov negotiates.

Saskatoon catholic schools say their actual increase adds up to ... about $3.50 a student. Not adjusted for inflation which, if you haven't noticed, is a real jerk. They're looking at a $3 million shortfall which, yes, will mean cuts

If were in 2008, school boards could deal with this by adjusting the mill rate. That's the chunk of your property tax that goes to education funding. In 2009, though, government opted to standardize that fee province-wide and collect it itself, taking the power from divisions

There were good reasons for this. Rates were out of whack across the province. It disadvantaged small and in some cases shrinking communities. But it also means local divisions have no ability to raise new revenues aside from asking government really really nicely

... Which means some of them are now charging fees to parents to cover costs, which is kinda like a very selective tax on, uh, having a child.

In conclusion, things aren't great, education funding is complicated. Thanks for listening to my ted talk