Ottawa offers Manitoba $85M to reopen schools

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This article was published 25/08/2020 (1486 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In an attempt to put parents at ease ahead of the school year, Ottawa is offering Manitoba $85.4 million in funding to reopen schools safely — but the premier could not say Wednesday exactly how that sum will be spent.

Brian Pallister told reporters the federal funding will “supplement” the planning already underway in the province.

The figure is separate from the $52 million in provincial funding announced earlier this week, as well as the $48 million in savings Manitoba’s 37 public school divisions accumulated during the spring closures.

“We’ll do our absolute best to make sure there’s a safe learning environment for our children and continue to be open; there’s nothing fixed in stone here,” Pallister said, during a news conference.

He added the province won’t have any trouble finding good use for the money, listing new pressures on the education system, including the procurement of personal protective equipment and school transportation challenges.

The Safe Return to Class Fund — a total of $2 billion, which is being dispersed to provinces and territories based on student population — has only one string attached: the federal money is to be used for schooling during the pandemic.

The prime minister has acknowledged that since education does not fall under the federal portfolio, provinces and territories can choose how to spend their sum as they see fit.

Manitoba teachers and parents have some concrete ideas about how to spend the sum: shrink class sizes, create a full-time remote learning option for students and update school ventilation systems. Those suggestions are on the Safe September MB campaign’s list of demands. The non-partisan group’s petition has garnered nearly 16,000 signatures.

The Winnipeg School Division’s new costly expenses are linked to custodial, educational assistant and substitute teacher staffing. Division spokeswoman Radean Carter said WSD often runs out of substitutes during flu season; this year, the division anticipates its substitute pool will be empty immediately.

James Bedford, president of the Manitoba Teachers’ Society, called staffing a “priority area” when it comes to investing in schools. The federal funding is an opportunity for divisions to hire more teachers to shrink class sizes and invest in community spaces to accomodate more classes, Bedford said.

“If these funds can be used to expand on staff … everybody would feel a lot more comfortable,” he said, while also listing rapid COVID-19 testing for teachers and students as a potential expense the new funding could address.

School divisions and independent schools can apply for the province’s one-time safe schools fund to cover the cost of masks, enhanced cleaning, and staffing. It’s unclear when the province will start to disburse funding, although the education minister has said divisions will be required to use up their savings first.

The federal funding will be handed out in two instalments, in the fall and in early 2021.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie