NDP calls on the province to provide school boards with emergency funding

As Saskatchewan school boards attempt to balance their budgets they are passing costs down to parents already struggling with inflation.

The school boards say their hands are tied after years of insufficient funding from the province.

Now you can add Regina Catholic schools to the growing list of provincial school divisions who will be charging parents for lunchtime supervision.

At a press conference Thursday, NDP education critic Matt Love accused the premier of spreading misinformation regarding school reserve growth and called on the government to provide boards with emergency funding.

Along with cuts to teaching and auxiliary positions Regina catholic schools will now charge parents a 70-dollar lunchtime supervision fee. It will cost $70 for Grade 1-8 and $35 for kindergarten students. Families will not pay more than $140.

Vicki Bonnell of the Regina Catholic School Division says the fee will come into effect in the fall.

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“Because of our budget we are looking for savings. Instead of putting money towards hiring these staff we are looking at charging now a lunchroom fee for the supervision of those students who stay for lunch,” said Bonnell.

When asked earlier this month about school boards passing more fees onto parents, Premier Scott Moe advised school boards to dip into their reserves instead.

“They most certainly should be looking at using some of the reserves that have been growing in the last few years as opposed to sending out invoices to parents,” said the premier.

“Since 2017, reserves have generally shrunk. For some school divisions, reserves are tiny and cannot be relied on to cover the cost of operating,” said Love.

Bonnell also responded to the calls for reserves to help ease the strain.

“If we have to take money from reserves to pay for lunchroom supervision that would lessen the amount of resources we have in classrooms,” said the Catholic schoolboard member.

1:44 Saskatoon schools concerned with funding from provincial government as finalized 2022/23 budget deadline nears

“This government has underfunded education year after year after year. They can change course today with an emergency funding package of 50 million dollars to avoid cutting some of the essential teaching and support positions that our children rely on,” said the education critic.

Love suggested the extra funding could come from the windfall resource revenues the province is currently seeing.

In a statement the province said once budgets are submitted, they are reviewed by the Ministry of Education and the Minister of Education. Additionally the Government of Saskatchewan looks forward to working with divisions in the coming weeks to ensure the needs of their students are met.