Representatives from each school division in the Estevan area were available for comment on the provincial budget released last week.
Shelley Toth, the chief financial officer for the 小蓝视频 East Cornerstone Public School Division, and Gwen Keith, from the Holy Family Roman Catholic Separate School Division, said that over the last two years, the previous budgets were lacking in funding for education, but this year both divisions saw an increase in funding.
鈥淲hen we saw the budget, we were not surprised because we already knew more or less how much money we were going to get. We didn鈥檛 expect that the budget was going to cover all our concerns; it鈥檚 hard times right now,鈥� said Keith.
鈥淲e went in expecting a zero per cent increase like the last few years but I would describe this as a status quo type budget. It鈥檚 tight but manageable,鈥� she added.
Toth echoed a similar sentiment by saying she was encouraged that the government has decided to restore some education funding.
鈥淲e are cautiously optimistic and we will be able to manage with the amount received. As such, we are looking at long-term planning and will address areas that we need to address in a long-term way,鈥� said Toth.
Keith applauded the ministry for supporting investment in classrooms, and is looking forward to determining where the money will go within the school division.
鈥淲e just now need to spend the time to go through what we got, line by line, and look at what it means across the entire system, and factor how that fits into each one of our communities,鈥� said Keith.
Keith noted that the lack of funding over such a long time has caused its own issues.
鈥淭he last two budgets were very difficult and we are still managing deficits from the past due to the lack of funding we have had prior,鈥� said Keith.
With the release of funding for 小蓝视频 East Cornerstone, Toth is happy that some bigger plans can move forward.
鈥淭he money we got this year is better than last year because over the last two years we have received decreases. This year we have received an increase of 1.7 per cent that is certainly better than what we were dealing with in the past,鈥� said Toth.
Toth noted that her division has received funding prior to design a new school in Weyburn that once built, will consolidate three elementary schools.
Both school divisions are also going to either be running or implementing a new province-wide student information system next year.
This new system is designed to reduce the use of paper in the schools and have everything from grades, report cards and attendance all in one system.
Keith said that her school is not in the first stage of this implementation of the new online system and worries how this mandated upgrade is going to affect their funding that they might otherwise use for other purposes.
Toth is excited about the new system and her division is already in the first stage of implementation.
Both expressed that new system, although aimed to make things more efficient, is going to be a difficult thing to implement.
One of the more difficult issues is all current student records are partly kept on paper and will have to be transferred into the electronic system.
Keith noted that the Holy Family division got an increase in funding of less than two per cent and the largest part of their budget is staffing the school, and she hopes there will be extra funding available after wages are paid.
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