SMITH — Aspen View school division will be conducting a viability review for one of four schools at risk of falling below the critical minimum enrolment threshold outlined in its own policies and for provincial rural small school funding.
During the Oct. 26 board meeting at Smith School, trustees voted 5-1 — with trustee April Bauer opposed and trustee Dennis MacNeil absent — to carry a motion to revisit a viability study of Rochester School, and further direct senior administration to provide all necessary information to conduct a thorough review.
“There’s a lot of ‘what ifs,’” said chair Candy Nikipelo, “It makes my heart sink a little when you see numbers the way they are — we’ve had losses in all four of the schools. It’s not an easy thing to see … this is a pretty significant and eye-opening situation we’re facing in all of our schools.”
The motion came after secretary-treasurer Amber Oko’s student enrolment update cited four schools that have fallen below the minimum student enrolment outlined in Aspen View’s policy 15, school and program viability, as well as the critical minimum enrolment detailed in the rural small schools grant available through the government of Alberta.
“It is our incumbent, our fiduciary duty at this time,” said vice chair Anne Karczmarczyk. “We need to (gather information) to make sure we are fully informed.”
Vilna, Smith, and Grassland schools were identified alongside Rochester as at risk for loss of funding. Bauer, elected trustee for Ward 4, Aspen View’s southwest division which includes Rochester School, questioned why viability studies for the other schools highlighted weren’t being considered.
“I don’t think Rochester should go through a viability (study) at this point, their numbers are not dropping as significantly as Vilna has this year,” said Bauer. “Why are we not doing a viability on Vilna, that has shown a significant drop, and is showing potentially next year losing almost half a million dollars in funding?”
Trustee Donna Cherniwchan, representative for ward 6, which includes Vilna school echoed Bauer’s sentiment. “Somewhere down the road here, I would probably put forward a motion for admin to bring back some information regarding the plan forward.”
Enrolment Stats
The critical enrolment threshold outlined in Aspen View’s policy 15 — school and program viability for elementary is 40 students for Grades 1 to 6. Grassland School has 34 elementary students, while Smith School’s enrolment totals 31, and Vilna comes in with 33 students. Rochester’s enrolment for Grades 1 to 6 is the lowest, sitting at 25 students.
For junior high, the critical enrolment threshold is set at 30 students from Grades 7 to 9; Grassland, Smith, and Rochester schools all fall below the threshold, with 12, 14, and 9 students in junior high, respectively. Vilna enrolment sits slightly above the threshold, with 37 junior high students.
Oko explained a weighted moving average (WMA) is used to determine the threshold enrolment for rural small school funding: 50 per cent of next year’s projections, 30 per cent of current year actual enrolment, and 20 per cent of prior year enrolment are used to calculate the WMA for the upcoming budget cycle.
“Rochester is at risk of falling below the threshold for the rural small school funding if enrolments continues to decline,” said Oko. Total enrolment for the school is 38 students, but Oko said “when we look at that in full-time equivalencies (FTE), that is sitting at 36 students, and that funding threshold is 35.”
Oko identified Smith and Vilna as other schools at risk for falling below the threshold in future years if enrolment trends continue. Smith shows "strong" numbers for next year’s Grade 1 class, but Vilna remains at risk with a total FTE of 25 students, well under the threshold of 35.
If Rochester school were to fall below the threshold for rural small school funding, $455,270 in funding would be lost, while Smith and Grassland both receive $182,002. Vilna receives the same amount of provincial funding as Rochester, although a loss of 17 federally funded students meant the school did not receive funds from the federal government for the 2023-2024 school year.
In a Nov. 3 email statement, a communications officer for the division said discussions around options for Rochester School will be conducted after the board reviews the information provided in the viability study.
