Saskatoon Public Schools board approves balanced budget despite provincial cuts

The board for Saskatoon Public Schools has approved a balanced budget for the 2017-18 year despite deep provincial funding cuts.

Board chair Ray Morrison called it the hardest budget the board has had to pass in his 13-year tenure.

“The difficulty was, how do we balance what’s best for the classroom and try and protect the classroom, while at the same time, balancing the budget?” Morrison said.

The Saskatoon Board of Education faced an $11.5 million shortfall after the provincial budget was unveiled in March.

To address the cuts, the division announced plans to save money on busing by increasing the eligible walking distances for students and sharing buses with Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools when possible.

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Eliminating 30.4 full-time equivalent positions and other decisions are expected to save the division money, though the equivalent of 17.2 full-time teaching positions and 18.7 educational assistant positions were added.

READ MORE: Saskatoon school divisions rejigging elementary school busing

The board’s budget also requires officials to take roughly $2 million from the division’s reserves, leaving about $12 million in the fund.

“Some of the money that’s coming out of reserves will being going to one-time projects, so it’s not coming out of there to pay teacher salaries or ongoing expenses,” Morrison said.

“So that little bit of cushion, I think, I’m okay with that and we’ve done that for a number of years.”

FULL COVERAGE: Saskatchewan budget 2017

The budget includes $259.4 million in expenses, which is $800,000 less than last year.

Four new schools are scheduled to open this fall.