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By Liam Verster

School Budget Cuts

Grande Prairie Public School Division feels effects of Provincial Budget cuts

Nov 15, 2019 | 1:46 PM

The Grande Prairie Public School Division has lost $4.9 million in government grants.

The school division is funded through Alberta Education, in a combination of various grants and per-student allocations. The new Provincial Budget, however, removed three key grants.

Grande Prairie Public School Division’s Superintendent, Sandy McDonald, says based on the United Conservative Party’s platforms, he expected the budget would stay static in the province after the election. In May, the school division submitted a budget application to Alberta Education, with the expectations of having some expenses reduced.

“What we didn’t anticipate was the loss of the Class Size Funding Grant, for Kindergarten to Grade 3, and the School Fee Reduction Grant that we had received prior. The third grant, which was the Classroom Improvement Fund Grant, we expected would be gone, so we did not include that in our anticipated revenue.”

In light of the cuts, the Provincial Government awarded each school division with a one time, $1.6 million investment. That investment brings the overall impact to the Grande Prairie Public School Division down to $3.3 million, which is a little over three per cent of their annual budget, and is retroactive to September 2019.

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In order to accommodate for the loss, the Board of Trustees, Administration and Leadership Teams are working towards balancing a budget. McDonald says the Trustees are also working with the local MLA’s and Alberta Education to try to develop a plan that allows them to keep focused on their priorities.

“Before the Provincial Budget was announced, we knew what our priorities were. Our priorities were the students and the learning that takes place in classrooms and schools with teachers and their support staff.

“Teaching and learning, that’s our number one priority. Having strong leadership and building a system that is efficient and effective, that’s our second priority. And our third priority is attending to our day-to-day business in a way that creates an inclusive school, and school community environment.”

He says those priorities existed before the Provincial Budget was announced, and they remain the same, even while reducing the budget by three percent.

McDonald says there’s been some uncertainty from within school staff, but they have committed to work with school leadership teams, including principals and administrators, on working to develop plans for the future, and will communicate to staff what decisions have been made, as soon as plans are readily available

McDonald says they have reserves that can be used to minimize some of the impacts that come from this announcement, and he’s optimistic about the school division making it through the year without too much impact on students, staff, programs or extracurriculars.

However, at this time, he doesn’t know what the long term impacts these cuts could cause, or what specific reductions need to be made in order to balance the school division’s budget going forward.