Greg McPherson, secretary treasurer, presents a balanced 2025/26 budget to Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education Trustees during a public meeting Thursday.--NEWS PHOTO BRENDAN MILLER
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
The Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education presented trustees a balanced budget for the 2025-26 school year on Thursday, with total spending slated at more than $40.9 million, and more than $400,000 left in unrestricted reserves.
“We are exceedingly pleased to be able to project a balanced budget for 2025/26,” said secretary treasurer Greg McPherson during a public meeting Thursday. “This includes all the board proof assumptions that were built in as the budget process was being met for the year.”
Expenses are up approximately $1.1 million from last year.
Instructional costs consume the bulk of the division’s expense pie chart at 74 per cent. Facility operations and maintenance make up seven per cent of the total expenses, and transportation has grown to a total of six per cent.
“Unfortunately the costs of transportation keep going up,” explains McPherson. “The price of buses are high, the parts are high.”
McPherson says MHCBE supports Southland Transportation increasing wages for school bus drivers.
Staffing costs are also expected to rise.
Currently the Alberta Teachers Association is negotiating new collective agreements for all its members. The division will also pay support workers an increased wage following negotiations with CUPE.
Non-bargaining support staff will receive a three per cent wage increase next year.
On the revenue side, the division is expecting an increase of $852,000 within the provincial funding framework next year as a result of the Education Ministry adjusting the weighted moving average of student funding from three years to two years. This also includes rate increases for grants and new grants.
Next year revenue is also expected to increase through preschool and childcare programming, with affordability grants available from the province to offset the price of care for parents.
Moreover, MHCBE recently announced it will receive $675,000 in grant funding to support its brand new First Responders Academy that will launch next year and will prepare high school students for careers as firefighters and police officers.
The grant funding will go toward the startup costs of the First Responders Academy, the first of its kind offered to high school students in the province.
Additionally, funding will be used for capital purchases to support the academy.
Next year MHCBE is anticipating a reduction of four students as the city experiences a steady reduction of babies born, resulting in a slower pace for school aged children, However, the division is planning to welcome five more full-time international students as enrolment in International Education continues to grow.
Total student enrolment is projected to be 2,719.5 next year.
MHCBE also plans to add 2.8 more full-time positions to help support the slightly larger student enrolment numbers in middle and high school that typically happens as elementary aged students become old enough to enrol in the variety of academies offered.
