BRSD preparing for funding cuts

The Battle River School Division (BRSD), like all other school divisions in Alberta, is getting ready for the next school year, and according to Diane Hutchinson, Director of Communications, some difficult conversations are taking place throughout the province.

“Battle River has worked hard to provide all teaching and school support staff with a wide range of professional learning opportunities, to help increase their skill and capacity,” said BRSD Superintendent, Rita Marier. “Even though some specific positions may no longer be available, we have staff with great skills and ability who can support students’ literacy, numeracy, educational technology, and individualized programming needs.”

This is a challenging time, stated a press release sent out by BRSD earlier. According to it, almost all of the funding school divisions receive comes from the Alberta government.

“The province is facing a time of financial restraint and we do not expect school divisions to receive any additional dollars, despite the fact that many costs are rising,” Hutchinson added.

With the Battle River also facing a decline in student numbers, particularly in the rural schools, it reduces the amount of funding the school division is eligible to receive.

“For these reasons, changes have to be made, and we won’t know for sure until the fall how much funding we’re going to receive for the 2019-2020 school year, but we are required to have our budget and staffing plans in place by the end of June,” Hutchinson said. “We are making plans based on a budget that is less than we received this year; this means that there will be fewer staff in Battle River next year than there are now.” . . . contd.