ATHABASCA – Changes to student funding from the provincial government mean Aspen View Public Schools has to make some tough choices around its spending for the 2025-26 school year.
During the April 17 board meeting, administrative staff from the division gave the six trustees an update on what the new funding profile means, and how it will impact the rural division’s students.
Previously, student funding was based on a weighted moving average (WMA) that took a school’s previous, current, and future enrolment numbers into consideration. Under the province’s new funding profile, that shifts to just the current and future year, meaning rural schools with slowly declining enrolment are facing a big hit.
“When we look at the comparison between Budget 25-26 and our July funding profile update, we’re seeing an even bigger decrease in our base instructional funding. We’re looking at just under a $750,000 decrease, so about a five per cent decrease,” said Secretary-Treasurer Amber Oko.
Provincial funding was recalculated multiple times over the last year. In April 2024, Aspen View’s operational funding decreased by a net total of $164,000, followed by a $416,000 decrease in July 2024. In September, that number went up by $251,000, but a recalculation of the WMA in March led to another net drop of $766,000.
Aspen View’s funding comes from three provincial streams: transportation, operations and maintenance, and base instructional funding. Since the division can’t run a deficit, and both transportation costs and maintenance expenses have exceeded the provincial allotment almost every year in the last decade, money is pulled from the instructional fund to cover the other two.
“When this budget was first released, I heard a lot of comments in general from the public and around the province about how good it was. It’s not a good budget; I think it was masked in different ways, and there are very specific things we need to consider,” said Supt. Constantine Kastrinos.
Kastrinos said the base funding for a regular student is roughly $6,700, a number that hasn’t changed much over the last 15 years.
“What we face from year to year is an unstable foundation for how we, as the board and senior admin, work to allot money to students. You can hide it all you want in grants and small envelopes here or there for mental health, and then the next year take it away, but don’t you think that student who has an allocation of $6,700 should have some mental health money?” said Kastrinos.
Aspen View, like many other small school divisions, is at a disadvantage when it comes to grant-based funding, which often comes with mandatory reporting conditions from the province. The smaller staff numbers mean it is a considerable amount of work to receive money that previously they would have gotten regardless.
Kastrinos said the new funding formula benefits urban schools, where student populations can fluctuate drastically as people move into neighbourhoods, but disadvantages rural schools that are already struggling.
“It’s not good for rurals, where we’re close to the line or even in a decline.”
Transportation struggles
Kastrinos also weighed in on the provincial transportation funding, which he said hasn’t adequately kept up with rising costs.
“For the first time in my career, I can’t move kids around the school division for field trips and for sports unless there’s some other bus or a school-specific bus. The cost is ridiculous. If you want to take kids to Whitecourt for basketball, you’re looking at a few thousand dollars for the weekend,” he said.
“We’re trying to find cost-efficient ways, but it’s not getting any easier. We’re going to have to have discussions around how we transport our kids for athletics or other opportunities. It’s becoming the barrier.”
