March 8

Two things of interest today;

1. A message I received from Holly Barabash (SE Cornestone SD):

We held a meeting last night in the town of Lampman at the school We had our newly formed School Community Council in attendance and the RM council there as well as the town council and our school board representative. Approx. 75 community members were in attendance. Media was also there. Many good questions were asked and hopefully we informed our members of SARM before they go to the convention. I will send a copy of the article that will be in a couple of papers to you. We supplied everyone with addresses of MLA's, Minister of Learning Etc.


2. An article by Karen Brownlee in today's Leader Post:

Basic costs lack funding

Karen Brownlee
The Leader-Post


Thursday, March 08, 2007


Small schools in rural Saskatchewan aren't getting enough money from the provincial government to cover their basic costs, leaving school boards with few options beyond considering closing a number of facilities, said Ray Boughen.

While Boughen is on the Prairie South School Division board -- which is considering closing six schools -- he also led a commission on financing kindergarten to Grade 12 education. The government considered the recommendations in his 2004 report, but chose not to act on a number of them.

"I think they should have implemented our 12 recommendations and we wouldn't find ourselves in this position," said Boughen. "They chose not to and that's their right. I don't argue that."

Boughen's recommendations would not have saved small schools from coming under review, said Finance Minister Andrew Thomson, who adds the recent lifting of the three-year school closure moratorium makes the situation seem more acute.

"The problems in the system are largely associated with rural depopulation," said Thomson, who points out the amalgamation of school divisions likely spared a number of communities from having their schools reviewed.

The problem Boughen sees is a system that funds education on a per-student basis. He explains all schools have fixed costs, such as electrical bills and maintenance expenses, whether they are in a city or a small town. Schools in rural areas have additional costs, such as staff travel expenses, because of their distance from the next facility.

While the provincial government funds some of the extra costs rural boards have -- for example, almost the full cost of sending rural students by bus is covered by the province -- Boughen said it isn't paying enough to cover the basic costs of operating smaller schools.

"Smaller schools in rural Saskatchewan are a different kind of operation than big schools in urban Saskatchewan simply because the fixed costs are there, but the number of students aren't," said Boughen.

Rural areas receive more than a per-pupil rate to cover their expenses and Thomson said that includes funds for schools in areas where the population is sparse.

Once boards know how much they will receive from the provincial government, they set their mill rate to get enough in property tax dollars to balance their budgets. A number of rural boards struggle to set mill rates near the level of urban boards.

That doesn't mean rural areas aren't paying enough to keep their schools open, which is what David Marit, the president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, finds most frustrating.

"With most of the schools that are under review, (the RMs) are probably collecting more in school tax than what it does cost to run that school," said Marit. "The school boards are saying that money goes in to the pool and that's the way it works."

Those in the RM of Stonehenge know this firsthand. Their school in nearby Limerick is being considered for closure by the Prairie South School Division.

According to figures obtained from that division by Limerick's school community council, it costs $537,000 to operate Limerick School. The RM raised at least $552,000 in education taxes in 2005.