BARRHEAD/WESTLOCK - In a year that saw school divisions adjusting their budgets to accommodate delays from the provincial government, Pembina Hills School Division board chair Jennifer Tuininga reiterated the board’s role as advocates for rural education.
“A late fall budget meant we had to make some difficult decisions part way into the current school year to reduce our deficit,” said Tuininga.
At the end of November, the school board posted a $2.5 million deficit for the 2019-2020 school year due primarily to increased insurance costs, the loss of three provincial grants, and declining enrollment.
The situation could be more difficult for the 2020-2021 school year, since part of the lost grant revenue for this year was covered by a provincial one-time transitional grant. In the meantime, school boards are waiting for a new funding framework for education.
“Due to the election in the spring, we didn’t get a budget until the fall and normally we get our budgets in March, which caused … delay in a number of things as we looked to project what the budget would be,” said Tuininga.
This wasn’t an issue particular to PHSD, and neither is the provincial framework review for funding education. While PHSD has clear interest in tracking changes to programs which affect all school boards, there are some rural-specific issues that Tuininga and her colleagues are hoping will be properly addressed.
“We’ve been involved in consultations in the fall as a board and provincially with other boards. That new funding framework is supposed to come out we hope end of January-beginning of February,” which would align with when school divisions begin budget processes for the 2020-2021 school year.
Tuininga clarified that provincial direction regarding the new funding framework dictates that it has to be implemented by the start of the 2020-2021 school year. Board budget talks typically begin in February.
PHSD would like to see changes in high school funding, which Tuininga described as a “patchwork of funding models” that doesn’t distribute resources equitably, and some high schools receive more funds than others to run programs.
Funding for transportation is also significant for PHSD, a rural division with its own fleet of buses.
“People live often farther away from the schools where their kids attend. That creates problems because it maybe takes a little bit longer to get to places and we have to watch our bus ride times.”
Tuininga and the board are also interested in how the government plans to address the shortage of service employees within rural divisions.
“Rural divisions tend to have problems recruiting people like speech and language pathologists, occupational therapists and mental health workers. They tend to take jobs within the metro divisions, closer to the cities.”
Despite challenges facing the school division in the coming months, Tuininga did comment that 2019 ended with some significant highlights for PHSD, among them advocating for rural education locally and provincially with a strong and vocal board.
“Trustees are not afraid to ask questions at the board table or to disagree with one another, but decisions are always made in the best interest of the division as a whole.”
PHSD makes use of its website and Facebook page to share stories from across the division, or spread information about satisfaction surveys on which they base future policies and directions for the board.
This year, trustees also worked together to cover for the Swan Hills trustee vacancy, a spot which has been open since October 2019, and engaged in a ward review in August of the same year.
“We’ve had a lot of change in education this past year just because of the change in government and we went from the … School Act to the Education Act. We’ve been doing a lot of work on policies in 2019 and some into 2020, trying to align our policies with the new legislation. That’s taken significant time in terms of board work.”
A name change was also part of it and Pembina Hills Public Schools officially became Pembina Hills School Division in September 2019.
That same month, Tuininga was voted to remain chair of PHSD for a second term.
“I am honoured to serve as the chair of the board and to be able to advocate for rural education. I love learning, the variety of trustee work, the relationships I have built, and the knowledge that we are making a difference in the lives of our students and the future of education in our province.
