Rocky View Schools (RVS) staff is disappointed with the funding the division will receive next year from the Province.
RVS will be receiving 3.01 per cent, $5.1 million, less than it did last year, according to Darrell Couture, associate superintendent of business and operations for RVS. The school division received the numbers er the Alberta 2013 budget announcement, March 7.
“It hurts,” said Couture of the cuts. “There is going to be reductions, you don’t reduce your budget by three per cent without reductions in service.”
Two-thirds of the decrease, about $3.4 million, will come directly out of the classroom, according to RVS board chair Bruce Pettigrew.
“Despite these reductions, we remain committed to providing our students with the high-calibre education they’ve become accustomed to,” he said.
He went on to explain RVS staff has proven innovation in instructional practices continue to improve student outcomes and engagement, while the system continues to ensure an unwavering commitment to meeting the needs of all students.
Overall, parents may see a slight increase to class sizes, but trustees anticipate minimal disruption to the classroom, said Pettigrew.
Couture said $514,000 in Alberta Initiative of School Improvement (AISI) will be cut immediately from the 2012/13 budget. About $180,000 in transportation fuel subsidies will also be cut, and the program will not be funded in 2013/14 at all.
According to Couture, about 98 per cent of RVS’ total revenue of $178 million comes from provincial grants.
Couture went on to explain RVS, with nearly 18,000 students, is the fifth largest school board in the province, eclipsed only by the four divisions in Calgary and Edmonton.
RVS is predicting 637 new students to come to the division for the fall of 2013, while the Province is estimating the division will grow by 1,000 students.
“We now know our grants, so in the next couple of months we will be developing our budget,” said Couture. “Obviously, we will try to keep the impacts to the classroom as little as possible.”
Couture added the cuts were deeper than he thought they would be.
“It is fairly significant decrease … but it is what it is,” he said. “We have to live within what we are given, so we have to adjust to the new realities.”
