Delayed education funding review leaves school divisions in the dark

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/12/2022 (693 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“It’s not a delay. It’s not a pause. It’s a continuation [of consultation work] …. We just can’t afford to get this wrong, because it’s pretty massive.”

— Education Minister Wayne Ewasko

A few months ago, Education Minister Wayne Ewasko was quoted in this newspaper stating his government had provided the education sector with the largest funding increase it had ever received, noting the province boosted kindergarten to Grade 12 funding by $460 million for the 2022-23 school year.

That included an increase of $51 million in annual operating funding and $77 million to assist with financial pressures for school divisions.

As we reported, an additional $22 million was provided to strengthen student learning and supports and $2 million to expand the Elders and Knowledge Keepers in Schools initiative.

While Brandon School Division board chair Linda Ross agreed this was true, she also publicly schooled the minister and his math skills by stating that although the increased funding was notable, it fell short of what was needed.

“But, the amount of the increase does not cover the cost of inflation,” Ross said. “So, in a sense, we have a decrease.”

And now, as we look toward the end of December, the post-holiday budget season is looming, and school divisions across the province have likely been wondering what they can expect for provincial funding. That question was answered this week, when the minister told our sister paper that public and independent schools can expect a status quo funding announcement for their 2023-24 operations in the new year.

In November 2021, the province announced the creation of a review team tasked with a goal of implementing a new funding formula for Manitoba’s 37 public school divisions in an attempt to make it more equitable.

At the time, the Manitoba School Boards Association president, Alan Campbell, welcomed what he called an “overdue” review, but said the boards had immediate fiscal concerns. There were questions about how annual funding will address spiking fuel prices and inflation at a time when the province is touting the phase-out of the property education tax.

Those questions will have to go unanswered as we enter 2023, and that’s unfortunate, as Ewasko said members of the review team want more time to get it right. This may also allow new trustees some extra time to adjust to their duties around school board tables before taking on a brand-new funding arrangement.

It would be too easy here to point fingers at this holdup as yet another example of a lengthy study process put in motion by a government seemingly addicted to reviews and consultation reports. Studying a problem to death is one way to make it appear that your government is doing something to fix a problem, even if said report ultimately gets shelved.

And certainly a delay by the review team does not solve the chronic and underlying problems facing education funding in this province. It kicks the can down the road yet again, this time to some point after the next provincial election in October 2023.

But to be fair to the minister, he is quite right when he states that Manitobans can’t afford for our government to get the education funding formula wrong.

As we have said before on this page, it would have been more helpful had the province taken the time to study the problems in education funding first, and then enact necessary changes, before it decided to begin the elimination of education property taxes.

The failure to adequately fund school divisions has harmed education in our province, and it’s important that our government meets the need in the coming school year. The pandemic took a toll on students across the country, with notable declines in reading and math levels for many students, particularly in elementary-age levels.

We urge the province to take this into consideration as budget planning moves forward for the next school year, even while a new funding process is established down the road.

The only problem, of course, is should a new government emerge from the next provincial election, we can expect further delays in finding a solution as education funding gets put under the microscope once more.