Budget issues galore for local school boards

By JEREMY APPEL on December 28, 2019.

jappel@medicinehatnews.com@MHNJeremyAppel

With the election in April of a new government committed to reducing public expenditures, budget uncertainty was the education story of 2019.

Medicine Hat College, the Medicine Hat Public School Division, the Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education all felt the crunch.

However, the Centre for Academic and Personal Excellence charter school received a slight funding boost.

Minister of Education Adriana LaGrange toured local schools – Crescent Heights High School, Ecole St. John Paul II School and CAPE, as well as the office of the rural Prairie Rose School Division – in September.

Her counterpart at the ministry of advanced education visited MHC around the same time.

The provincial budget was released in late-October, more than a month after classes began. The 2020 budget is slated for March.

Medicine Hat College

At the beginning of the school year, Advanced Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides visited MHC, warning of “difficult decisions” ahead for postsecondary institutions.

The government ended up lifting a tuition cap put in place by the previous government, which Nicolaides said didn’t lead to increased enrolment.

As part of a 2.8 per cent cut to overall expenses in the budget, the province slashed its postsecondary grants by five per cent.

College president and CEO Kevin Shufflebotham told the News after the budget was released that this will likely mean tuition increases, since that is postsecondary institutions’ other source of revenue.

Shufflebotham said the college can only increase tuition up to seven per cent for three years, with all subsequent hikes being tied to inflation.

He said any decisions the college makes will be done in consultation with the students’ association.

Medicine Hat Public School Division

MHPSD chair Rick Massini has been quite vocal in criticizing the government’s approach to funding K-12 education.

The budget froze K-12 funding at $8.223 billion, but Massini said its math doesn’t add up and “virtually every other board” he’s interacted with has had a similar experience.

He told the News in November the board has a $3.8-million hole in its budget.

The government provided a $1.4-million transition grant to help plug the hole, but there’s no guarantee it will be renewed next year, Massini said.

He said this could result in increased class sizes and decreased supports offered to students with various needs in the public system.

Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education

The MHCBE ended up with a $1.3-million shortfall in its budget, which it was able to plug with its reserve funds.

It received a $500,000 transition grant, but its reserves allowed the board to stave off class size increases or staff reductions, secretary treasurer Greg MacPherson told the News in November.

The MHCBE was also able to use $249,000 in amortization from its capital funds and saved $209,000 from teachers who retired and were replaced by younger teachers who are paid less.

In June, the board announced it has a $202,000 surplus, but warned it was contingent on what’s in the provincial budget.

Centre for Academic and Personal Excellence

Charter schools like CAPE received a slight increase in funding in October’s budget to $400,000 from $396,000.

CAPE also opened the doors to its new, more spacious building – an old wing of Medicine Hat High School – in June.

School superintendent Teresa DiNinno told the News the funding increase would assist CAPE in maintaining the extent of its programming in the face of increasing enrolment.

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