Saskatchewan’s official opposition is demanding the provincial government respond to cuts being announce by school divisions and to provide urgent funding to address the inflationary pressures schools are facing across Saskatchewan as they finalize their budgets.

The NDP is calling on Premier Scott Moe and his government to commit to an emergency funding package of $50 million dollars to cover funding shortfalls and inflationary costs for Saskatchewan schools.

“Schools are facing massive increases to operating costs given 31-year high inflation.” said NDP Education Critic and teacher Matt Love.

Both the Saskatoon Public School Board and the Saskatoon Greater Catholic School Division are introducing lunchtime supervision fees this fall and are axing a number of full-time teaching positions to address rising costs.

Premier Scott Moe said last week that school divisions shouldn’t introduce new fees and said instead that school divisions should dive into cash reserves, however some school divisions have stated they don’t have those reserves.