Education-funding overhaul needs more time, minister says

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This article was published 15/12/2022 (742 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba government says it has to do more consulting before it overhauls the way it pays for K-12 education.

Education Minister Wayne Ewasko told the Free Press Friday public and independent schools can expect a status quo funding announcement for their 2023-24 operations in the new year.

“It’s not a delay. It’s not a pause. It’s a continuation (of consultation work)…. We just can’t afford to get this wrong, because it’s pretty massive,” Ewasko said.

The minister said members of the review team want more time, so he suspects this development will be welcome in all divisions, many of whom have new senior leaders and trustees following the elections in October.

Superintendents and education stakeholders have long raised concerns about the existing model and a problematic equalization formula that has, since its implementation in 2002-03, perpetuated inequities in classrooms across the province.

Student population, transportation requirements and building expenses, among numerous line items and grants, currently determine how much funding each division gets.

Divisions also rely on local property education taxes — sums that vary between boards because they reflect the assessed value of area housing and businesses — and fundraising efforts for their overall revenue.

The latest breakdown of school revenue streams indicates the province covered 56 per cent of all costs in 2021-22.

However, Ewasko said the true figure is about 75 per cent because the report does not take into account additional grants for students with disabilities, and new money allocated to address pandemic measures and financial pressures related to collective bargaining agreements.

While the 2019 commission on K-12 education was directed not to investigate funding, the consultants concluded it would be “negligent if we did not point out that this is an issue of perceived unfairness” in their final report.

Recommendation No. 74 of 75 in the 2020 document — released in 2021, following a year-long delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic — indicated Manitoba should conduct a review of its funding formula to ensure an equitable distribution of dollars.

Manitobans who weighed in on the 2019 review shared that rural, remote and northern regions are short-changed as a result of the existing model.

Some participants touted the elimination of the province’s reliance on education property taxes while others championed the prospect of a Manitoba-wide mill rate.

Citing the commissioners’ findings, the province revealed it was overhauling education funding in November 2021. At the time, the 2023-24 academic year was identified as the first during which the new formula would be in effect.

Ewasko said a new timeline has yet to be confirmed, but an updated model could be in place as early as 2024-25. He acknowledged the initial timeline was too ambitious for this major change.

“On one hand, it’s a disappointing development because everybody has been looking forward to a replacement of the current funding model because it’s convoluted and archaic,” said Alan Campbell, president of the Manitoba School Boards Association, who has a seat on the review committee.

“On the other hand, it doesn’t make sense to rush a once-in-a-generation shift in the funding of the second-largest public spend in this province — second only to health care.”

Last year, K-12 schooling expenses in Manitoba totalled more than $3 billion.

While noting the province wants to focus on the model itself rather than total operating dollars, Campbell said he constantly hears from division leaders that current resources are “wholly inadequate” – especially coming out of the pandemic.

The association leader noted block funding for students with the highest, most complex needs in public education alone has remained static since the Tories were elected in 2016.

“You can’t even talk about equitable funding, unless there’s enough of it… After six years of chronic underfunding – and short-changing our most vulnerable and high-needs students – the system is overdue for a course correction,” said James Bedford, president of the Manitoba Teachers’ Society, in a statement Friday.

The NDP education critic, Nello Altomare called the delay “political calculus,” as well as a missed opportunity to make much-needed change sooner.

Given boards begin drawing up their upcoming annual budgets during this time of year, school leaders are expected to proceed to work within a familiar system.

The government typically announces how much all 37 public school boards will receive in operating money for the upcoming year between mid-January and early February. Boards have to submit their approval budgets before March 15 of any given year.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie