The province is adding $15.5 million to operating funding in the province’s school divisions for this school year. More than 189,900 students are registered in provincial Kindergarten to Grade 12 school divisions, which is an increase of 3,840 students, the largest enrolment growth in Saskatchewan in over 20 years. That’s why the province is adding this funding.

A higher number of students new to Saskatchewan has increased the enrolment numbers significantly, according to a news release from the province. That includes about 500 Ukrainian students.
Enrolment funding is based on preliminary school division enrolment data collected by the Education Ministry, which will be updated in December to reflect the actual enrolment numbers as of September 30th. The province also announced a one-time investment of $20 million in July to help school divisions with inflationary pressures.

The President of the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation, Samantha Becotte, says the additional education funding works out to $82 per cent and is the bare minimum of what divisions require to address the increased enrolment. She believes it won’t be enough to provide the additional supports students need to ensure their success.

Becotte notes that last week she heard from a teacher that students who require speech language therapy are only able to receive three ten-minute sessions per school year.  The STF would like to see greater investment to ensure the unique needs of all students can be met.